Control
by Polaris'05
Summary: When Bishop teams up with the Shredder, it spells bad news for the turtles. Why are their enemies so desperate to capture Donatello? And what will the others do when the unthinkable occurs, and they're too late to save him? Nothing is ever as it seems...
1. Prologue

_A/N: Finally, a longer story for the turtles! All I ask is, please give me a chance. This is just the prologue, a little teaser for you, but we're diving in headfirst... don't bring out the lynch mob just yet, or you'll never find out what happens next! The rest of it is almost entirely completed already... I'll put the second chapter up tomorrow, just so nobody tries to hurt me (heh), then I'll be posting every other day. _

_See my profile for my thoughts on disclaimers. I'm not going to put one at the beginning of every chapter, I'll just say once and for all that NO, I don't own any turtles, only the plot. Also, I have an illustration for a later chapter on my deviantart account for anyone who's interested... there's a link to that on my profile, too, since I can't put links in the story itself. _

_Thanks oodles and bunches to Mikell, who's been a fantastically patient beta. Without her encouragement, the story would never have come as far as it has. Thanks, Mikell! You're just awesomesauce! ;)_

_Without further ado, strap yourselves in. The timeline's going to jump around a bit, but I have every confidence that you'll be able to keep up. And remember: if I've learned anything here at college, it's never to assume you know what's going on.... _

* * *

**_Control_**

Blood.  
He tasted the blood from where a lucky shot had got him in the face.

Sweat.  
He felt the sweat running down his face, threatening to get in his eyes, but he ignored it and kept moving. He had to keep moving, or die.

Pain.  
It was all over him… the aching, burning sensation that he was fast reaching his limit, but he couldn't afford to stop yet. Not yet.

Darkness.  
Closing in on his sight, shutting down his senses.

And finally, the hard surface of the rooftop coming to meet him.

Leo felt the blows raining down on him, but there were too many ninja for him to fight back. He was defenseless, and from his position on the ground surrounded by a sea of legs kicking at him, he couldn't see his brothers. He could hear Mikey crying out in pain, though, and Raph's heavy grunts, and he knew that they at least were as bad off as he was.

He had led them straight into the ambush.

"Enough!" The call cut across the sounds of the battle, causing the Foot ninja to cease their merciless barrage of attacks on the turtles. Many pairs of hands grabbed Leo, pulling him from the ground up to his knees with his arms held firmly behind him and a blade hovering dangerously close to his neck. From the edge of his peripheral vision, he saw the same happening to at least two of his brothers.

Shredder stomped towards them, footsteps clanging raucously from his heavy metal armor. Leo glared up at him, though his enemy paid him no heed, apparently looking for something or someone other than the oldest turtle.

"Where is the fourth?!" Shredder demanded. "Fools! I want the one called Donatello! These three matter nothing. We need _him_ alive at all costs! Where is he?"

Leo twisted his head around as far as he dared with the sword still in place at his throat, casting about for Donny. Why wasn't he…

Before he could wonder how Donny had managed to escape and where he might be, Leo heard a sound that froze his heart, plummeting it down into the bottom of his gut. Raph started screaming in agony – not pain, but deep and infinite agony.

"NOOOOOOO! DONNY, NO! OH GOD, PLEASE NOOOOOO!"

"DONNY!" Mikey joined in, the raw fear in his voice tearing at Leo's heart. "DONNY! NO, NOT DONNY! PLEASE, NOT DONNY! _DONNY!_"

They were staring at a point on the other side of Leo. Mouth dry and eyes moist, Leo slowly twisted the other way to be met with a sight that he knew would haunt his waking nightmares for the rest of his life, however long that might be.

Donatello's body was on the ground, sprawled across the rooftops. His bo lay beside him, marked and broken from the fierce fight he had put up. Blood was pooled all around him, far more than any of them had ever bled in a fight… it appeared to be seeping out of a wound from his plastron… right where his kind and gentle heart would have been beating… There was no discernible rise and fall of his chest whatsoever, and his darkened eyes stared unblinking and unmoving out into the starless and infinite night.


	2. Of Brothers and Dreams

_A/N: Oh what the heck. I was looking at the prologue and it was just so short, so I thought I'd be nice and put this up today instead of tomorrow. Because I know you're all going to be good little fans and follow the story even after the prologue, right? But, now you won't get anything tomorrow, you'll have to wait until the day after. _

_You're welcome. ;-)_

_

* * *

_

1 Week Earlier

"Come on, Raph, is that really the best you can do?!" Mikey danced around his older brother, not even bothering to put his chucks up into the ready position. They dangled at his side as he simply leapt back and forth, ducking just out of reach every time Raph took a swing at him. The murderous glares and angry snarls that his antics elicited from the older turtle would have scared anyone else off, but Mikey just grinned wider.

"Whatsa matter, Raph? Getting slow in your old age? Come on, I'm RIGHT HERE! Whoops, ya missed me again!" He laughed maddeningly as Raph's momentum from another swing carried him too far over and he lost footing.

"Mikey, I swear I'm gonna pound you into a pulp if ya don't shut your mouth!" Raph yelled, red from exertion and frustration.

"Nah, ya gotta catch me first, Raphie boy!" Mikey chuckled, still dancing back and forth. "Nyah nyah, missed again! Wow, that was the worst shot yet! How're you supposed to fight if you're gonna keep falling over like that?"

Raph slowly pushed himself up off the floor, having just taken far too wide of a swing, ending with Mikey "helping" him down to the ground. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Leo and Donny had already finished their sparring match and were watching with apparent amusement at his struggles. Narrowing his eyes, he growled low under his breath. It was time to _end _this.

"Raph?" Mikey stopped dancing around as Raph winced, clutching the arm he had fallen on close to his body as if it were paining him greatly. "Hey, Raph… you alright, bro?" He put his chucks back in his belt and walked over to his brother. "I'm sorry, dude, I didn't mean to- OW!"

Raph smirked down at Mikey, who was now on the ground rubbing his head where Raph had moved like lightning, hitting him as soon as he was in range. Mikey glared back at him ruefully.

"Dude, faking hurt is SO not cool! That's not fighting fair and you know it!"

Raph just chuckled and turned to bow to Master Splinter, who was watching with the other two turtles. Splinter smiled and nodded to him as Leo went to help Mikey to his feet, shaking his head at the role reversal they had just witnessed. Usually it was Mikey who feigned an injury to gain an advantage over Raph, but it seemed the red-banded turtle had learned a trick or two from the youngest.

"Mikey, you know you deserved that… and you of all turtles should've been expecting it!" Leo said with a laugh. "Besides, if we're talking about a straight up fair fight, you might want to try using your weapons _more_ and your mouth _less_."

"Ah, but then Raphie doesn't get the benefit of my dazzling wit!" Mikey argued, grinning full force again, all memory of the fight already forgotten. "Dude, I'm hungry! What's for dinner?"

Donny shook his head, watching the entire scene with quiet amusement. "Do you ever _stop_ thinking about food, Mikey?" he asked with sarcasm. Mikey just smiled even wider, looking at Donny as though he had turned into a horse.

"Why would I stop thinking about food? I love pizza almost as much as Raphy here loves that delivery girl who _brings_ it here!"

"I do _NOT!_" Raph roared, turning red again. He leapt on Mikey's back, tackling him. Leo opened his mouth to tell them to stop when Mikey's flailing arm caught him in the back of the knees, knocking him over. With a mischievous grin, Donny ran in from the sidelines and jumped in on top of them, creating a huge mass of punches and kicks as they wrestled each other on the floor of the dojo.

"Boys…" Splinter started but trailed off as he realized none of them could hear him over the noise of their own brawl. He sighed. "Never mind. That's all for today." Trusting his sons not to hurt each other _too_ badly in their wrestling match, the old rat shook his head and wandered out of the dojo. He was getting rather hungry himself, and his evening soap operas would be on soon.

oOo oOo oOo

"Knight to e6, eh, Donny?" Leo asked with a knowing smile. Donatello looked up from the chessboard in irritation.

"Do you have to comment on _every_ move I make?" he complained, setting the knight back down where he had picked it up from. "Couldn't you at least let me _make _my move before you say anything about it?"

"Hey, you touched that piece, you have to move it now!" Leo grinned. "You know the rules."

"I really don't understand how you can be having any fun," Donny sighed. "If you've already played the whole game out in your head, what's the point? Why don't you just tell me how the game ends now and save us all some time?" Reluctantly, he moved the knight to the e6 square, already attempting to look ahead to see what his older brother had planned on following up with.

Leo smiled and pushed a rook that Donny had overlooked down the side of the board, taking the bishop that Don had left exposed. Donny groaned in frustration. This late night ritual of a chess game before bed that the two had started had forced him to admire his brother's ability to see sequences of moves much farther in advance than he himself could.

"The point is, I _still_ have to figure out how I can beat you," Leo explained. "I just do that ahead of time. Besides, you aren't the easiest one to anticipate. It's tough to beat a chess player with an IQ as high as yours."

"Intelligence doesn't stand a chance against a strategist," Donny grumbled, retreating his king to a safer haven. "How do you know what I'm going to move before I do? You're cheating somehow, I just know it."

"I am _not._ You're my brother and I know how you think," Leo said, studying the board carefully. "If it makes you feel better, I'm wrong a lot when I play you. You're the only one who ever beats me."

"Yes, well, I'm the only one who's still willing to play you," Donny pointed out dryly. Leo smiled, nodding. His eyes lit up suddenly, apparently seeing an opening, but before he could move, a horrible scream filled the Lair. Leo and Donny froze, staring at each other.

"That was Mikey," Leo whispered.

"Another nightmare?" Donny wondered, concerned with how frequently this had been happening recently. Without hesitation, both turtles leapt to their feet and ran for Mikey's room.

"_Watch out guys!" Mikey yelled. They were on the rooftops, fighting the Foot. It was practically an every-day occurrence for them, nothing new. But his brothers weren't fighting like themselves tonight. They were moving much too slowly, almost dreamily, while the Foot ninja moved with superhuman speed. _

_For some reason, he didn't seem to have his nunchucks. In fact, he didn't seem to have any weapons at all. Mikey looked down to find something, anything that he could fight with. That was when he realized that he was stuck. Two huge weights, attached to chains, were manacled to his ankles. He was trapped where he was, out of reach of his brothers. _

_Looking around in a panic, Mikey tried to call for help, but his shouts didn't carry farther than a few feet in front of him. He could only watch in fear as his brothers were being clobbered by the ninja who moved too fast to be real._

"_Donny, behind you! BEHIND YOU!" Mikey tried to yell, tried to warn him, tried to make himself heard. The ninja that was sneaking up on his brother was nearly three times the size of a normal human… he should have been more than easily visible, but none of the other turtles seemed to see him at all. The monstrous ninja turned to look right at Mikey, taking off its mask to reveal a demonic, grinning skull. Mikey froze, paralyzed in fear, until the demon-ninja raised its sword and brought it crashing down._

"_NOOOO!" Mikey cried as Donatello crumpled to the ground, eyes staring off into the distance as blood squirted everywhere. Even though he was far away from where Mikey stood trapped, the blood was somehow getting on the youngest turtle, filling his eyes and his mouth, choking him and suffocating him as the ninjas laughed at his predicament. Leo and Raph continued fighting as though nothing had happened, though now they were fighting off huge snakes instead of ninjas and their weapons had turned into plastic toys that were anything but comical…_

"_This isn't happening, this can't be happening…" Mikey moaned. _

"_This ISN'T happening, Mikey. You're just dreaming! Wake up!" The voice filled the air, and Mikey screamed because it was Donny's voice, who he knew was already dead. _

"_Mikey, calm down! MIKEY!"_

Mikey shot up in bed with a yell, eyes wide and shaking uncontrollably. His frantic gaze caught sight of Leo and Donny standing beside his bed, looking down on him with concern. Mikey didn't understand. Hadn't they just been fighting? Didn't that huge ninja just kill Donny? And where were the _snakes?_

"Hey, hey it was just a dream," Leo said soothingly, taking Mikey's shaking hand. "You were having another nightmare. It's ok. We're right here."

"Nightmare?" Mikey repeated unfocusedly. Raph and Splinter came running in, Raph flicking the lights on as he entered so the room was filled with light. Mikey blinked against it, trying to fit the pieces together still.

"Are you alright, my son?" Splinter asked gently, coming to sit beside the youngest turtle. "What has happened?"

"He was dreaming, Master Splinter," Leo explained. "Everything's ok, it was just a dream."

"Dream," Mikey muttered, clinging to Leo's hand and waiting for his racing heart to calm down.

"Musta been one heckuva dream," Raph muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What was it, Mike?"

Mikey looked up at him, looking bewildered. The images were only too fresh on his mind, but he shook his head. "Don't remember," he lied quietly. His eyes flicked frantically to Donny as he tried to convince himself that his brother was, in fact, still alive. As though he could read his thoughts, Donny nodded comfortingly at him.

"It's ok, Mikey," he said with a soft smile. "We're all here, we're all ok."

"Told ya the pizza with jelly beans, corn flakes, and sauerkraut was a bad idea," Raph said grumpily. "No wonder you're havin' bad dreams."

"I'm fine," Mikey insisted with a shiver, remembering the terrifying feeling of being chained down and unable to help his brothers. "I'm ok, just… sorry I woke you guys up."

"Forget it, knuckle-head," Raph sighed. "Doesn't look like_ I'm _gonna be able to sleep now. Might as well crash in here."

Mikey nodded quietly as Raph threw himself across the foot of Mikey's bed, trying to appear bored instead of highly concerned, while Leo, Donny, and Splinter bid them good night and stepped out the door, turning the lights off behind them. Donny smiled, knowing that for all of Raph's gruffness, he was a pushover when it came to being Mikey's big brother.

"Wonder what _that _was about," Leo sighed as they went back to his room, wishing Splinter a good night as he departed for his own quarters. Donny shrugged, sliding back into his seat. Both turtles stared at the chessboard, though neither one was completely interested in finishing the game.

Mikey had been having nightmares every night for nearly a week now. It wasn't completely unheard of, but Donatello wondered if he should be concerned. Mikey always talked in his sleep, so they all _knew_ he was dreaming of them fighting… and losing. Donny hoped dearly that it wasn't an omen; every single night, the name that Mikey cried out for in fear had been _his_.


	3. Of Pride and Partners

_A/N: Here we go! Next chappie! A huge thanks to all you who reviewed. I always respond to everyone personally, but I just wanted to thank you all again. Many of you readers are also writers... you know better than anyone what a review means to an author. We're not getting paid here, we survive on reviews! So, thanks for taking a minute to leave me a few lines!_

_Here's my obligatory warning for Mikell and everyone else, too... if you're drinking tea, put it down! Laughing with tea in your mouth is not good for computer screens!_

_Ok, that's all I've got. On with the show!_

* * *

Top secret government agent John Bishop had the strongest urge to kill something.

The last few months had simply sent him in that direction. Obstacle after obstacle, misfortune after misfortune, dilemma after blasted dilemma… if only he had something to _dissect_. Yes, that would feel good… he hadn't had a good dissection in a long time.

Strictly speaking, he wasn't a top secret government agent anymore. He was now, in politically correct terms, a member of the previously employed. In real world terms, he had been unceremoniously sacked and his program scrapped.

The fools. He had been the world's first – no, their _only_ – defense against hostile alien invasion. Hadn't that fiasco with the Triceratons way back proven beyond a doubt that they couldn't afford to lose him? And what _exactly_ was he supposed to do now? Did they honestly think he planned on spending the rest of his life doing "home security", or boring genetic studies on fruit flies, or – heaven forbid – _flipping burgers_?

Times were hard. The government had been making all kinds of cut-backs in an attempt to stay afloat in the floundering economy and, apparently, Bishop was expendable. And where else was there, besides the government? No one else needed a brilliant, out of work, slightly twisted mastermind.

Not that he was being completely unproductive with his time. He had been chased out, it was true, but not before making off with his last project. Fortunately, he had been moving a great deal of equipment to a private warehouse over the last few years. Granted, now that he was working alone, progress had been slow, but now… now he was finally finished.

For all the good _that _did.

On his own, with no lackeys or pathetic pawns to do the dirty work for him, Bishop had no means of getting his hands on the one crucial key that the project needed to work. If only he could clear this last hurdle… it would be worth the pride it was costing him.

Bishop stared up at the huge building in front of him with a sneer that was full to bursting with self-pity. When he had first come across the particular object that had started this project, he had seen himself going far with it. There were so many places he had seen himself ending up, but _here_ had never been remotely near making that list.

He had never anticipated seeing the day that he would be going to Oroku Saki for help.

oOo oOo oOo

"You are John Bishop?"

Bishop rose to his feet with no small amount of irritation, though it was carefully hidden behind the mask of his impartial face. He had been kept waiting in the lobby for much longer than what he knew was absolutely necessary. Saki was trying to establish some sort of superiority over him, he knew. But they were playing the political game now, one that Bishop was well versed in.

"Yes," he answered smoothly. "And you, of course, can only be Oroku Saki."

"A safe guess," Saki returned, looking thoroughly bored. "Considering this is my building. I have been informed that you have some sort of deal you wish to make."

"Is there somewhere less… out in the open?" Bishop demanded, establishing some power of his own. "What I have to show you is very delicate. For your eyes only, and _no one_ else's."

Haughtily, Saki turned and exited the room through a sliding door, beckoning Bishop to follow him. Bishop picked up his carrying case and walked behind him, cursing the ones who had fired him continuously as he did so for putting him in this position of need. As they entered Saki's private office, he snorted softly to himself. The grandeur of the place was impressive, of course, but impractical to the point of ridiculousness.

Saki came to a halt very suddenly, turning around and crossing his arms as the door slid closed behind them. He did not offer Bishop a seat.

"Speak your piece," he commanded coolly.

Bishop smiled. "I know of your struggles with the four terrapin creatures… that is to say, the mutant turtle freaks… and I believe I have something here that can help."

Saki said nothing, but continued to stare coldly at him, waiting. Bishop set the case down and unlatched it, moving slowly to draw out some sort of interest in Saki.

"This," Bishop announced, bringing out his project. "This is what will help you destroy the turtles once and for all."

"A… helmet?" Saki questioned, unimpressed. "_This_ is your secret weapon to destroying the turtles?"

Bishop chuckled quietly. He handed the helmet over to Saki for further inspection. The front came down lower than a normal helmet, to cover the eyes of the wearer. There were a few wires coming out of it, but nothing about the device looked particularly impressive in any way whatsoever.

"It may not seem like much to _you_," Bishop explained. "But I believe one of the turtles in particular may be able to enlighten you on its history."

"Explain."

Bishop smiled, taking the helmet back. "This is a piece of Triceraton technology that I, through means of my own, managed to acquire at great risk. Originally, I believe that it was some sort of device designed to forcibly retrieve memories from the wearer. However, this particular helmet no longer functions in that manner."

"What then, was the _purpose_ of acquiring it at… such great risk?" Saki asked mockingly.

"This device was used by the Triceratons on the turtle Donatello," Bishop answered. Saki's eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly, and his gaze shot back to the helmet, intrigued again.

"Somehow, Donatello managed to short out this device while it was being used on him," Bishop continued. "The actual process behind that is complicated and it would take too long to explain right now," he said, keeping his tone even and as respectful as he could. No sense in insulting the intelligence of the one man who could help him.

"All you need to know is that somehow, the turtle Donatello's brain waves were imprinted onto the circuits. Think of it as information being burned on to a compact disc. It is only compatible with _his_ brain activity now… when he shorted the circuits, he somehow managed to hardwire it to work only on his wavelength."

"And you know all of this… _how_? I sincerely doubt you were present for these events."

"I was not," Bishop admitted. "How I pieced together the history of this helmet, as I said, is of no importance at the moment. That story can come later, _after_ we have what I need."

"I do not see how this could possibly be of any use to me," Saki snapped, folding his arms across his chest again in impatience. He was quickly tiring of this man. "Any information I want from the turtles, I have other… methods… of obtaining."

Bishop shook his head, trying not to roll his eyes. "As I told you, it won't work to siphon memories out of the mind anymore. After a great deal of engineering and reworking, I have developed this into an entirely new creation, with an even better function." He smiled, eyes alighting in the anticipation of future nefarious deeds. All for the good of planet Earth, of course.

"This particular device is also connected to a computer that only I have access to. If you can somehow get this helmet on Donatello's head…" He paused dramatically, gesturing to the helmet with a flourish.

"If you can get this on him," he finished, "We will have control over his mind."

Saki's response was, in Bishop's opinion, overwhelmingly disappointing. After a moment of silent contemplation, Saki retreated to his desk and sat behind it. Bishop narrowed his eyes and followed him over, stopping in front of the desk and seething inside at the way Saki was treating him so inferiorly rather than being properly impressed.

"Well?" he asked, having a hard time keeping his voice at its usual sinuous timbre.

"Why are you here?" Saki asked finally. Bishop's eyes narrowed even further at the question. "You already have this technology in your hands," Saki continued, studying the former agent. "Why have you come to me? What exactly is the deal you came to make?"

"Through a series of… unfortunate circumstances… I've lost my team. I'm working on my own now and…" Bishop took a deep breath, preparing himself to swallow his pride. "I need help. I can't capture Donatello on my own. This simply will not work without the turtle, and I believe you can get him for me."

"So you want me and my Foot ninja to simply hand over the turtle to you?" Saki growled. "And why should we? What's in this for me?"

"Please, Saki," Bishop grunted, nearly dropping all pretenses of respect. "You and I both know that you want the turtles out of your way. I happen to know you've been set on revenge for a long time. This is your chance to get it. You give me Donatello, and the other three are yours. If necessary, I'll even use the helmet on Donatello to help you get the others, and the rat as well."

Saki didn't speak for a moment, thinking hard to himself. Revenge. It _was_ all he wanted. Well, that and world domination, of course. Perhaps… perhaps there was a way to achieve _both_ out of this deal. Perhaps… yes… Saki smiled, extending a hand to the man before him.

"Very well, Bishop," he said with a sinister air of artificial friendliness that Bishop didn't trust in the slightest. "We have a deal."

* * *

_Reviews are awesome._


	4. Of Targets and Traps

_A/N: Thanks, reviewers! I love each and every one of you! I couldn't respond to those not signed in, so:_

_starfire201: Backfire? oh BOY, is it ever going to backfire... =D_

_hannah-bear: heehee, don't worry, I've almost got the whole thing written on my computer, so I'll most certainly finish it. It'll be about 19-20 chappies long, unless I get carried away with the ending.  
__  
WebMistressGina:__ While I AM basing this loosely on the 2k3 series, I'm taking some pretty significant creative liberties with the relationships between the characters, so it really is AU, though I neglected to mention it. My apologies. For the purposes of this story, Shredder is still in town (or BACK in town), and he and Bishop haven't really had any contact before. Also, for this story, Bishop has no idea that Shredder's an alien… in fact, that's going to be an important point later on. Because you're right, if he knew he wouldn't be too keen on a partnership… ;-)_

sait4soreyes: heh, glad I've got your attention! Yeah, you'll be learning things a little bit at a time... can't give everything away TOO early! LOL

_Thanks again, everyone who's reading and reviewing. Remember, reviews make everything worthwhile. _

* * *

_3 days later_

"Mikey, for crying out loud!" Leo hissed as loudly as he dared. At the admonition, Mikey stopped dancing around on the rooftops, freezing comically with one foot in the air and grinning guiltily. He nodded and mimed putting a finger to his mouth exaggeratedly, indicating that he was going to be quiet.

Raph shook his head at Mikey's knuckle-headed-ness but kept his eyes glued to the scene in the alley below them. He and Leo were prone on the edge of the rooftop, peeking over the side while Donny was behind them, digging hurriedly through his bag trying to find something.

"Hurry it up there, genius," Raph muttered. "I wanna know what's happenin' here _before_ they're done."

"It's in here somewhere," Donny muttered back. "Hold on a second."

Leo ignored the exchange, narrowing his eyes and watching the group of ninja go about whatever business they were conducting. For the past few nights, the four turtles had seen more Foot ninja spread out in various parts of town.

It was unnatural – usually the Foot stuck fairly close to their own turf. Leo felt something big was amiss and wanted to do more recon before entering open combat with their enemies - of course, it had been hard to keep Raph from attacking in complete disregard to his orders. Tonight, they had taken the Battle Shell to the farther edge of the city to see just how far the Foot had decided to extend themselves, leaving their van a good distance away hidden in an alley.

"Donny," Raph snapped again impatiently.

"I _know_," Donatello replied, still sorting through the many gadgets in his bag frantically. "Here, I've got it!"

Setting a small device down on the rooftop next to them, Donny handed a set of earphones to Leo, who accepted them with a silent nod and put them to his ears. Mikey dropped down next to them and looked at the small gadget, which resembled a fancy bowl with a stick pointed at the group of ninja below.

"And this thingamajig does _what_, now?" he wondered, poking it in curiosity. Donny swatted his hand away and readjusted the angle.

"Don't touch. It's a parabolic microphone I rigged up," he answered, still making slight adjustments. "It picks up on the sound waves of whatever it's being pointed at. The waves are collected and reflected to the amplifier, which Leo's earphones are plugged in to for him to listen without the amplified sound being audible to our target." He glanced up at his brother, who was staring at him with a bewildered look. Donny grinned.

"Roughly translated from 'geek speak', it means we're making them easier to hear."

Mikey nodded sagely, turning back to watch the scene with satisfaction. "Ah. Now why didn't you just say that to begin with?"

Still ignoring them, Leo listened intently to the conversation that two of the ninja were having, standing off to the side.

"_This is a waste of time. We've been waiting around doing nothing all night for the last three days without a sign of these… turtles. And what kind of ninja are we supposed to be, standing out here in plain view for the world to see?"_

"_We're standing out here in plain view because they're SUPPOSED to find us, remember? As for why, I don't know. Usually it's an ongoing battle, but one that only happens when we cross paths. We haven't been sent out to engage the turtles in a long time."_

"_But we're not even engaging them! Since when do we have orders to take our enemies alive?"_

"_Not THEM. Just the one. Apparently the Master has business to attend to with that one."_

Leo stiffened at the words, frowning. The other three stopped to watch him as he leaned forward intensely, the frown growing darker on his face as the conversation continued.

"_I take it this is the leader? If we get him, the others will surrender, right?"_

"_No, no! You're newer to the clan, aren't you? Have you not fought against these freaks before? The one in purple isn't the leader."_

"_Why does Master want HIM then?"_

"_Who knows? I don't question the Master."_

Leo growled low in his throat, glaring daggers at the Foot ninja. So this was the reason for their unusual boldness so far out of their own territory… it was all a trap to get… Donny? In response to Raph's impatient nudges, Leo took one of the earbuds out and handed it to him, who put it to his own ear. Within seconds, his face had turned as dark as his older brother's.

"_It's not even going to matter, if they don't show up. I'm not sitting around all night just to capture one turtle... and not even the more important one, at that!"_

"_If memory serves me correctly, the one in purple… Donatello… is supposed to be the smart one. I don't know, perhaps Master wants to make him work out some new technology or something."_

"_Master already has scientists at his command."_

"_True. Well, it's none of our concern why Master is so desperate to catch Donatello. They'll find us out here eventually… He's the weakest one by far. While the others are busy fighting US, the four Elite will easily be ablt to take him. I know I'D sure hate to be this turtle… if Master wants him, he's in for a world of pain."_

Raph growled also as the ninja who had spoken laughed sinisterly. Listening to them talk so indifferently about kidnapping Donny… _hurting_ Donny… made his blood boil. And the idea that the young turtle was in _any_ way a weaker fighter was......... laughable. Ha. Ha.

Still… the Elite… The Foot already had an overwhelming advantage in numbers even without them. And to have all four Elite targeting a single turtle…they wouldn't have a chance. _Especially_ not… well… Raph and Leo exchanged glances before both of them slowly turned to face Donatello.

"Um… what's going on?" Donny asked nervously, not happy with the looks they were giving him.

Neither answered, but exchanged another look between themselves. Abruptly, Raph tore the earpiece out of his ear, and snatched Don's bag out of his hands.

"Hey!" Donny protested as Raph grabbed the parabolic microphone off the roof and shoved it haphazardly into the bag. "Be careful with that! What're you doing?"

"Yeah, dudes," Mikey said with weak chuckle. "Need more info, here… what just happened?"

"We're leaving," Leo responded shortly. "Right now."

"Now?" Mikey groaned. "All that time spying on the Foot dudes and now we're just gonna _leave_? Raph, you're not even gonna argue that we're supposed to be fighting them?"

"Can it, Mikey," Raph growled, not in the mood for his younger brother's jokes. "Back to the Battle Shell. We're headin' home. No fighting tonight."

At that, both Mikey and Donny stopped short, staring incredulously at the hot-tempered turtle. Raph didn't… _want_ to fight? Donny shook his head slowly, wondering if perhaps his brother was coming down with some mind-altering disease. He'd have to give him a check up when they got back to the Lair.

"Leo, seriously, bro," he said carefully, the lack of information only making his feelings of trepidation grow. "Are you going to clue us in here?"

"Just move," Leo growled, gesturing impatiently for them to hurry. They all started running quickly and silently back over the rooftops. "There's something else going on here that we aren't ready for. They want _you_, and the Elite are around here somewhere. We need a plan before we get into something we can't handle."

"Me?" Donatello asked, disbelieving. "Why?"

"I ain't waitin' around to find out with da Elite after you!" Raph snapped. "Go!"

Donny frowned, about to point out that they couldn't prepare for _anything _if they didn't stay to find out what was going on, but he was side-tracked by Leo's abrupt halt. He heard Raph's sharp intake of breath and then he felt himself being shoved suddenly to the side by one of his brothers. Something – a net? – whistled over his head and he jumped quickly back up.

Either by design or chance, they had been boxed in by another group of Foot ninja who had been slowly sneaking up on them, cutting off their escape route. The turtles all dropped into fighting stances as the Foot came rushing towards them, one yelling loudly for the others in the alley below to join them. Donatello watched them advancing, calculating in his head exactly when to swing.

Having the weapon with the best range of all the brothers, Donny's strike was the first to hit, and then the battle had begun.

"Donny, what the shell didja _do_," Raph yelled at his brother in between knocking Foot ninja over the head with the handle of his sai, "to get dese guys so (_thwack) _pissed (_thwack) off?_"

"I don't know!" Donny groaned, trying to fend off three ninja that were converging on him, backing him into a corner. "I don't think they feel like sharing, either!" He felt his shell hit the solid wall behind him, and sighed inwardly, knowing that this was hardly the ideal position to be in.

"Donny! Donny _above you_!"

The warning from Mikey came too late for the purple-banded turtle to avoid the humongous ninja that had literally dropped in on him from behind. Donny crashed to the rooftop with the ninja on top of him. Even protected by his shell, the ninja's considerable weight crushed all the breath out of the turtle. Dimly, he heard a roar as Raph finished off his own opponent and came charging to the rescue.

"I gotcha, Donny!" he heard Raph yell, and the weight on his back abruptly and thankfully disappeared. Gasping and wheezing in an attempt to regain his breath, Donny rolled weakly out of the way of the fighting. How the shell did a person _that_ big end up being a ninja in the first place? Donatello jumped slightly as another body landed suddenly right next to him, but it was only Mikey, wearing a slightly frightened face.

"Don? Bro, speak to me!" Mikey said, grabbing Don's shoulder and shaking it a little rougher than he meant to in his concern, the scene bringing his previous dream back to his memory. "Are you hurt? Are you dying? Have you seen any abnormally moving snakes?"

Donny blinked, not even attempting to decipher _that_ question. He shook his head to indicate that he was fine, shaking Mikey's hand off and climbing slowly to his feet. Mikey's eyes widened and instinctively, Donatello ducked as the younger turtle's nunchuck whirred past him to catch another ninja trying to jump on Donny's back.

Donny nodded his thanks and straightened back up, shifting into a defensive crouch beside his brother as Raph and Leo continued to fight back the remaining ninjas.  
He and Mikey turned shell to shell as they swung their weapons out threateningly at incoming Foot. Don moved instinctively, leaving his brain free to work at the speed of light, trying to come up with some answers.

_Why_ were their enemies so intent on capturing _him_? He could understand them wanting to take down Leo, being the obvious leader and by far the best fighter. He could understand them going after Raph, who just _looked_ like a threat, and had probably ticked them off more than once. He could even understand Mikey being a target, simply for how _annoying_ he was during a fight. But why him?

"Don!" Leo's voice cut through his musing over the sound of the fighting. "_Elite! Look out! Don, ELITE!_"

* * *

Reviews are swell.


	5. Of Evasions and Explosions

_A/N: Thanks once again, reviewers! For those I couldn't personally address:_

_banisha: heehee, don't worry, it'll get finished no matter what. I won't let you all down!_

_Pig: interesting name. Thanks for the "super wow", you're awesome!_

_Also, I think another "thanks!" is in order for my beta, Mikell, without whom you would not be reading this now. Now, on with the show!_

* * *

"Donny!"

Donatello didn't dare stop moving, but if he'd had the luxury, he would've frozen at the sight of Shredder's four Elite guard suddenly appearing on the scene. He had almost forgotten Leo mentioning that they were around somewhere, but now they were practically right on top of him.

"I see them!" he called back. As if being able to _see _them gave him any sort of advantage… they were _still_ going to kick his shell. Even Leo hadn't been able to fight them all off, that time he was ambushed. Donny shuddered… he didn't really fancy flying through any windows today.

Standing with his shell to Mikey, Don wielded his bo staff threateningly as the Elite moved closer, in no apparent hurry. Two green shapes parted through the sea of Foot ninja, and then Leo and Raph were standing in line with the two younger turtles.

"Don!" Leo yelled. "Do you have any smoke bombs? Concussion grenades? _Anything_ to give us a diversion?"

Donatello nodded, dropping back a step to reach into his bag of goodies. Immediately, the other three turtles merged together in front of him, blocking off anyone trying to reach their purple-banded brother. Donatello dug out a large black square of something that looked delightfully incendiary. His fingers flew over it expertly, finding the button that would set it off, releasing a wall of smoke thicker than their traditional smoke pellets.

"I got it! Heads up!" Donny called. Hitting the button quickly, he lobbed it over his brothers' heads. When the bomb made contact with the rooftop, it exploded violently, filling the entire roof with pungent black smoke. Don barely had time to appreciate his handiwork when a strong hand caught his arm, dragging him backwards.

"Don, it's just me," Leo muttered when Donny tried to fight out of the grip. "Settle down. Guys, quick! Lose the masks!"

Leo, Raph, and Mikey swiftly removed their masks, Raphael jerking Donny's off his head as well before he could even reach for it. Donny caught on quickly… these Foot ninja only knew them by their bandana colors. Sure, they had different skin tones and completely distinct mannerisms, but the Foot would never be able to tell them apart. Although they had another means of doing so…

"Weapons?" Donny pointed out. He glanced towards the wall of smoke… it wouldn't hold much longer; the Elite were already fighting their way through it, waving their hands around blindly to find the other side of the smokescreen. Leo grabbed Don's bo himself, handing his precious katana and sheaths to Raph. Raph, in turn, gave his sai to Mikey, who grinned and held out his nunchucks for Don. Donny took them somewhat reluctantly, looking unhappily at Leo, who was holding the one weapon that the entire Foot clan would be focused on.

"Leo…"

"No time to argue, Don," Leo said steadily. "We can't fight them off. Our only hope is to confuse them. Everyone split up. Meet back at the van. Go!"

The four turtles broke formation, leaping in their separate directions. Donny hopped off the building, landing on another roof slightly lower down. When he had reached solid ground, he chanced a look over his shoulder, but his ninja brothers had already disappeared into the night.

oOo oOo oOo

Dude, this was kinda cool! Mikey ran across rooftops, changing direction as often as he could. Taking off the masks and trading weapons… it was so very, very sneaky of them. He LIKED it! The sai felt odd in his hands, not at all as comfortable as his favorite nunchucks, but they had all trained with other weapons than their own.

Huh. Guess Leo had been RIGHT when he'd said they'd appreciate that someday.

Mikey checked a quick look behind him. A dozen or so Foot soldiers were behind him, somewhat half-heartedly. Apparently it was obvious that he wasn't the smart one they were after. Mikey grinned… he sure as shell didn't know _how_ Donny had made himself such a target that even the Elite had been called out after him, but Mikey found himself swelling with pride at the chaos and confusion that his quiet brother had caused.

If he wasn't worried about what they might _do_ to his brother if they caught him, Mikey would've been having the time of his life. Laughing, he put on an extra burst of speed, easily leaving the slower ninjas behind in the darkness.

"Now, time to find the Battle Shell and get outta here!" he chuckled to himself.

A second later he stopped laughing as an explosion shook the ground, and he saw a plume of smoke going up in the distance.

oOo oOo oOo

Shell, he was getting tired of running! Raph growled and kept going, weaving his way through the warehouse district by the bay. The place was somewhat familiar to him, though he usually didn't come this far out. Everything in him wanted to turn around and simply knock out the lucky Foot ninja who had outdistanced the crowd following him.

Still, he kept running. If he turned around to fight now, they'd easily be able to tell which one he was; he doubted he could keep his mouth shut once he started fighting. Raph had to keep up the charade at least a little while longer.

_Mikey had BETTER be careful with my sai_, Raph found himself thinking. He was glad and even touched that Leo had handed off his swords to _him_. Part of him was pretty sure it was just because he was the only other turtle who handled blades regularly – Don would've been uncomfortable handling such lethal weapons, even while fighting for his life. Shell-head.

Regardless, Leo never parted with his katana lightly and Raph knew there was a certain level of trust, surrendering them to him. He appreciated it. Especially because it sounded like at least one of the Elite had decided to follow him, and he was going to need the edge that a blade gave him.

Hoping that Donny was far enough away, Raph spun suddenly, landing a solid fist to the ninja behind him with the force of a small truck. Almost at the exact same instant, a thundering boom rent through the night air, shaking the ground so Raph almost fell over. Everyone stopped, and even the lone Elite turned to watch as smoke came up over the horizon. Barking out an order, the Elite shot one last evil glare at Raph before they all turned and ran.

oOo oOo oOo

Had Donny made it back yet? Had he gotten away? What about Raph and Mikey? Leo hoped they were being careful. Concern for his brothers ran dangerously through his head, distracting him. Shaking his head slightly, as if that could dislodge his worry, Leo kept running, not needing to look behind him to know he was being closely pursued. If he could make it to the shore, he knew his pursuers could never hope to keep up with him in the water.

At least three, perhaps _all_ of the Elite had decided to go after him. Without the colored masks, none of the Foot had any idea which one was Donatello. They could have guessed they might trade weapons, but it seemed as though the Elite at least had decided their best chance was to chase down the one with the bo. Leo had known they would, which was why he'd grabbed it himself before one of the others could. As if he would let anyone _else_ take such a risk.

Leo snorted, still running for dear life. If they caught him, at least maybe he'd be able to find out _why_ they were after his younger brother. It was interesting that even the Foot didn't understand the orders they had been given.

Abruptly, Leo ran out of rooftops. He teetered on the edge of the last one, having been about to jump before realizing there was nothing to jump _to. _He had made it to the water, but the drop from this height was… dizzying. Leo had overcome his fear of heights long ago, but that sure as shell didn't mean he liked them. He spun around, Don's bo already in his hands. The Foot ninja – it looked like at least half of them had followed him after all – and three of the Elite stopped their run and approached him slower. Leo growled threateningly and shifted his grip, wishing he had his katana but glad that the ruse had worked.

"Come with us peacefully, and you will not be harmed," one of the Elite hissed in his odd, sibilant voice. "Master has requested your presence."

"I don't think so," Leo laughed, imitating Donny's voice even though he was pretty sure the Foot wouldn't recognize the difference anyway. "What does he want?"

"Come with us," another Elite repeated. "and you will find out." The line of ninja advanced and Leo growled again.

"Very well," the third Elite said. His face was covered, but Leo could hear the smile of anticipation in his voice and knew that even if he had gone 'peacefully', they were never going to take him in unharmed. "Ninja, _attack_!"

Leo jumped through the air to meet them head-on. He knew the odds of him walking away from this battle were… not good… but he wasn't giving up without a fight. Nevertheless, he only had time to knock out a decent number of the Foot soldiers before the Elite were upon him.

He hadn't really stood a chance, but as an Elite guard grabbed him from behind, Leo wished it hadn't been _quite_ so easy for them to stop him. He struggled against the hands that held him as Donny's bo was taken away, one of the other ninjas breaking it in two. The other Elite reached out and grabbed Leo's chin, tipping the turtle's face into the moonlight and studying him carefully. His red eyes widened, full of fury.

"You!" he finally spat out, drawing back his hand as if he'd been burned. "You are the turtle in blue! The leader, who we have beaten before!"

There was no point denying it now, so Leo didn't bother. He smiled tauntingly, channeling Mikey's tactics of simple obnoxiousness when victory was no longer an option.

"That's right," he said derisively, still trying to shrug out of his captor's grip. "And Donny's already gotten away… he's _long_ gone by now."

The Foot ninja shifted nervously, knowing how their master reacted to failure. It was not going to be pretty… but before they had too much time to worry, a shock wave made the entire building rumble and the sounds of something very large being blown up filled the air. Instinctively, the entire company turned towards the source of the explosion and Leo seized his opportunity. While the Elite guard holding his arms was distracted, Leo yanked himself free and without pausing to think, dove head first off the rooftop into the water nine stories below.

oOo oOo oOo

Donny just kept going. The nunchucks tucked into his belt made him long achingly for his bo, and only served to remind him how much danger his brothers were in. Because of him. Somehow. Donatello had stopped trying to puzzle out why Shredder wanted him specifically, all concern for himself shoved to the back of his mind as his thoughts went out to his brothers.

He shouldn't have let Leo take his bo. _Why_ had he let him do that?! Losing the Foot soldiers had been but the work of a moment, of course, and now he was headed for the Battle Shell. Donny knew that there had been no Elite in the party chasing him but instead of relief, he felt only fear. The four Elite guards must have gone after one or more of his brothers instead. Most likely, they were all after Leo.

He shouldn't have let Leo take his bo.

He just shouldn't have.

The van was in sight now. Donny could tell that he was the first one back, and he slowed to a walk, wondering whether it would be better to stay, or go out after his brothers himself.

Donatello was only a few yards away from the Battle Shell when it abruptly exploded.

* * *

_Review... you know you want to..._


	6. Of Enemies and Memories

_A/N: Wow… I must confess that I'm overwhelmed. I've never had so many people reviewing my stories before, in any of the fandoms! I guess you guys like this story, huh? :) Incredible amounts of thanks. And o__nce again, here's some thanks for my anonymous reviewers:_

_Sara: LOL! Sorry the chapters have to stop so suddenly, but what's life without some good cliffies? Heehee. As for what happens when they capture Donny… just scroll down. =O_

_Pig: Same thing, if you want to see what happens next, keep reading! _

_One extra disclaimer for this chapter… the italicized portion is taken directly from one of the 2k3 episodes. It's in Season 3, Space Invaders pt. 3, where we first see the helmet being used on Donatello. For anyone who HASN'T seen it… it's not essential to this story, as Bishop has mostly explained everything you need to know from that episode. _

_Also, I want to state one more time: **Bishop has NO idea that Shredder is an alien**. This is important. He DOESN'T know, or even suspect._

_Okeedokee, here we go!_

* * *

When Donatello woke up, the first thing he noticed was that his head was throbbing with such intensity it was almost blinding. The second thing he noticed was that he was chained down: shackles on his wrists fastened to iron rings on the floor, effectively keeping him from getting up any further than his knees.

Odd. He wondered how he'd gotten there. Everything beyond sitting up on the rooftop with his parabolic microphone was fuzzy in his mind, to say the least. At least that explained the headache; he must have hit it pretty darn hard if he couldn't even remember what had happened.

"Perfect," Donny muttered to himself, taking a moment to examine the small cell he was in. "Just perfect. You'd think I'd be used to this whole being kidnapped thing by now." He sighed. In truth, it was just… getting _old_. _REALLY_ fast.

The room he was in had no windows and no lights, so it was a strain to see his surroundings at all. The floor was hard and cold, though, like stone… he figured he was probably somewhere in Shredder's tower. A huge iron door stood looming before him, impossible to break through even if he _could_ somehow manage to free himself from the chains… which didn't seem likely.

"Ok, no getting out _that_ way," Donny thought aloud to himself with a heavy sigh. "Well, isn't _this _just dandy. So it's either wait for the guys to rescue me or hope for old Shredder to make a mistake." His thoughts turned immediately to his brothers. Were they here? Were any of them hurt? Were they together? Would they be able to find him?

The more he thought about them, the more he started to wonder what had actually _happened_. It was coming back ever so slowly… he seemed to recall Leo telling him that the Foot was after _him_. The Elite had found them… but they had traded weapons, right? Shell. He'd been given Mikey's nunchucks, which were no longer on him. Mikey was going to _kill_ him. And… Leo had taken his bo, to draw the majority of the ninja to him. Donny prayed that his oldest brother had managed to evade them.

Don thought he remembered making it back to the van. Then there had been… some sort of explosion? Donny growled under his breath as the memories worked themselves together into some semblance of a clear picture. There _had_ been an explosion. He'd been thrown backwards and knocked out, easy prey for the Foot to come and collect, since they'd obviously been waiting for him.

Donny was pretty sure that he had been the first one back, so hopefully that meant none of the others had been close enough to get seriously injured. The Battle Shell, on the other hand… Donny groaned. The way his head felt, he knew the bang had to have been big enough to destroy their van completely. He was going to have _so _much work to do, replacing everything… But first, he had to find _some_ way out of there.

The turtle tugged fruitlessly at his shackles for a moment before letting them fall down in frustration, the metal links clanging discordantly on the stone floor. The noise seemed to call attention to his return to consciousness, for a panel on the door immediately slid open. A Foot ninja peered in on him silently, confirming that he was, in fact, in Shredder's tower, before the panel slid closed again.

"Yeah, go get your boss," Donny called after him, for no real reason other than it was something Raph would do, and it made him feel braver to think of his stronger older brother. "Tell him the freak's awake and then I can get to work on getting out of here!"

He sighed and shook his head. He had slowly begun to understand why Raph was always acting so tough. Truth was, Donny was _scared_. He didn't particularly _like_ being captured… and even though he was relieved that none of his brothers were in the same predicament – that he knew of, anyway – he was even more scared because he was alone. He could see how getting angry would be an ideal mask for fear. Donny lowered his head wearily. He _wasn't_ Raph though, and he certainly didn't have the energy to act tough and angry.

At least, he reflected, it was just Shredder. Shredder was a cruel enemy, but Leo _had_ said they'd wanted Donny alive. It was nice to know they'd wait before killing him, as that bought him more time to get out of this mess. Besides, he knew darn well that he was the perfect way to bait his brothers into coming, so Shredder could kill all of them at once. Donny hoped Leo would take that into account when they _did_ come for him, as he knew they would. Still… at least it was just Shredder.

Now, if it had been Bishop who had captured him –

The door of the cell opened… Donny looked up and saw who was standing there, and his hopeful heart took a long dive off a short cliff.

"Bishop…"

"Ah, so you finally returned to the world of the living," Bishop said smoothly. He walked into the cell and dropped a case on the floor. The turtle was staring at him with a look of complete incomprehension, which Bishop found incredibly satisfying.

"But… what are _you_ doing here?" Donny demanded. "I thought… Shredder…"

"Mr. Saki has been most gracious in giving me the proper assistance to… obtain you," Bishop explained, opening the case on the ground slowly, clearly enjoying the effect he was having on the young turtle. "I doubt I could have managed to acquire you on my own."

"I'm not something to be _obtained _or _acquired_," Donny seethed, furious. "Why did you send them after _me_? What do you want? And how can _you_ possibly be working with the Shredder? You _do_ know he's an alien too, don't you?"

Bishop laughed at the childish attempt to distract him. Really, the turtle would have to come up with some story better than _that_ if he was trying to escape. Not that he would have the opportunity. As for what Bishop _wanted _with him…

"Recognize this?" he asked with a smile, holding up what looked like a helmet with some wires and knobs attached. It would have been a fairly innocuous looking object to anyone else, but Donny's blood ran cold as he stared at the helmet. He recognized it, all right... he knew _exactly_ what it was…

_His hands were bound in front of him with electromagnetic cuffs as he stared up at the enormous dinosaur alien before him. He knew he could not betray his friends. He must not tell the Triceratons anything that could help lead them to Professor Hunnicutt. Donny felt the force of the glare that both Triceratons were sending his way. _

"_Where is the Fugitoid?" one of the Triceratons boomed at him._

"_I- I can't tell you that!" Donny answered stubbornly. Actually, he really DIDN'T know where his friend had gone, but even if he did, there was no way these dinos were getting an answer out of him._

"_Can't?" the leader demanded, leaning forward menacingly. "Or WON'T?"_

_Maintaining his stubborn silence, Donatello turned his back on the pair. After a moment, he heard the leader lean back on his throne. _

"_Very well," he heard. "We 'pea-brained geckos' will just have to EXTRACT the information from your over-sized terrapin brain!" The helmet was slammed down on the turtle's head, taking him by surprise. His eyes were covered and he gasped in shock as it was activated. He could actually feel the raw electrical energy being slammed into his mind._

_Images and thoughts sprang rapidly and chaotically through his head, unbidden. There was no order to them, showing everything from when he was just a small turtle to events as recent as the day before. He knew without a doubt that the Triceratons could see everything that he was seeing, and that when they said they would 'extract' the information, they were speaking literally. Donny couldn't keep himself from screaming as the burning, physical torture of having his mind invaded and set on display drove him down to his knees…_

On his knees in the cell, Donny's eyes flickered in fear at the memory, the torturous pain only too clearly remembered in his mind. Bishop smiled as he saw the emotions running rampant across the turtle's face. "You _do_ recognize it, don't you?" he chuckled.

"How did you get your filthy hands on that?" Donatello demanded, wondering if he could reach out with his mind to Master Splinter for help the way he had done the last time. Somehow, he doubted he could make that connection work again. "And what exactly do you expect to see with it?"

"Oh, no no no, my friend," Bishop laughed, patting the turtle on the head. Donny jerked backwards in disgust away from his touch, desperately trying not to let Bishop know just how scared he was at that moment, but knowing that he was fighting a losing battle.

"I have no intention of peeking into your advanced and most impressive mind," Bishop continued. "I have other plans for it, actually. Better plans."

"And what exactly would those plans be, might I inquire?" Donny snarled in a fairly Raph-ish manner. Bishop didn't answer, but held the helmet up over Donny's head. Immediately, Donny shied away, ducking and jerking around so Bishop couldn't get the helmet on him. With an air of belittling amusement, Bishop motioned for the Foot ninja guards to come over and assist him.

"No! Keep that thing off of me!" Donny yelled as the ninja forcibly grabbed his head, holding him still long enough for Bishop to slam the helmet down on him. Donny tried not to panic as it slipped over his eyes and the ninja let go.

"Relax," Bishop said smoothly. "This isn't going to hurt. At least, I don't think it will… I haven't been able to test it out, but I imagine that you won't feel a thing."

* * *

_Reviews make my world go round..._


	7. Of Survival and Choices

_A/N: Thanks, readers and reviewers! To my anonymous:_

_LuvlyLady: LOL... "the dreaded helmet-thingy"... that's awesome! I was cracking up. Here's your update!!_

_sait4soreyes: Did you know you had PM's disabled? Not sure, if you're anything like me it may have been an accident. ;) Anyway, thanks! I try to put in as much detail as I can because I'd love for everyone to be able to see what I see... as for how they knew it was Donatello, it'll be explained. But first, we go back to the three remaining brothers!_

_Pig: Ah, what indeed WILL happen with the helmet-thingy??? Unfortunately, that's a story for another day. Or at least another chapter! LOL._

_I promise the chapters get a little bit longer later on, but right now we're still setting up the scene. Hey, it can't be ALL action ALL the time, or nothing would make sense! Anyway, it seems only fair to give the rest of the brothers a chapter since this is such a Don-centric story (the best kind, IMO... heehee). Here we go!_

* * *

Mikey couldn't breathe. He couldn't move, or think, or… anything. It didn't make sense. It was all wrong. It… wasn't right! What… what had… how… but… his brothers… the Battle Shell… His mind was filled with a blank sense of questioning… how, and why...???

He couldn't breathe.

As soon as he had felt the explosion rip through the air, Mikey had sprinted as fast as he could back in the direction it had come from. Everything in him was screaming that something was wrong, horribly wrong. Something terrible had just happened. It made no sense, because the explosion could have been anything, but he knew it wasn't "anything", it was "something", and it was something bad.

Upon reaching the Battle Shell – or rather, where it used to stand – he knew exactly what was wrong. There was no proof that any of his brothers had been there at the time of the explosion, of course. There was no reason to think that they might all be….well……

…He couldn't breathe. He could only stand in front of the crater that was now where he _knew_ the Battle Shell had been. Slowly, he sank down to his knees, the energy to stand fleeing from the most energetic of the turtles. The charred pavement was rough and broken on his knees, like sandpaper, but he didn't notice. Mikey had never been so scared in his life.

"MIKEY!"

Mikey jumped to his feet, startled and nearly out of his mind with relief to hear the familiar voice calling his name. He spun just in time for Raph to nearly collide with him, a look on his face that Mikey knew must have been on his own as well: fear, relief, hope, despair, terror, confusion…

"Oh God, Mike," Raph gasped, grabbing hold of the younger turtle in an unusual gesture of emotion. "When I saw you just sittin' there… I thought…" He cleared his throat and let go, stepping back and shaking his head, trying to rearrange his face back into one of tough smugness, though he couldn't quite manage.

"Well, you're ok, anyway," he continued, surveying the ugly crater before them. "Ya seen the others yet?"

Mikey shook his head miserably. Meekly, he reached out and touched Raph's arm. Raph turned back and saw his desperate face, and his hard exterior melted away as he pulled Mikey in again, letting his youngest brother cling to him as if to reassure himself that Raph was really there.

"Hey, they're gonna be fine," Raph said, automatically and unconsciously glancing around to make sure no one saw him allowing himself to be hugged. "No worries. You know how Leo an' Donny are… dey can take care o' themselves."

"I thought I'd lost you all," Mikey whispered, the first tears starting to drip down. He held on to Raph as though he would never let go. "First the Elite, then that explosion… I was afraid that…"

"Hey, none of that crying," Raph complained, though not unkindly. "I'm fine, I'm here. An' the others are fine, too. Come on, we probably shouldn' be stickin' around here. Let's get outta sight, ok? Alright?"

As gently as he could manage, Raph dragged Mikey away from the pit into an old, wooden building nearby. Mikey let himself be pulled along and pushed down to a seated position on the rotting, dusty floor of the building, his thoughts going out to the two unaccounted for turtles. The leader and the genius… They couldn't afford to lose either one. They just couldn't! He heard a growl and looked up, realizing that Raph had already pulled out his cell and was trying to reach one of the others. Apparently, he wasn't having much success.

"Dammit," Raph cursed under his breath as Leo didn't answer. He hung up and tried Donny instead. The phone continued to ring and ring, but again there was no response. He closed his phone, looking troubled.

"Raphie?" Mikey whispered. "Do you think… do you think they're, you know…"

"They're alive!" Raph barked back, stress causing him to snap at his brother. "They're fine!" Mikey looked away, hurt, and Raph immediately felt guilty. He sighed and sat down beside the orange-banded turtle.

"Look, Mikey… if either one of 'em had been _here_, their phones wouldn't be workin' at all. They'da been destroyed in the blast. They're both ringin', I just can't get them to answer. Dey weren't here, ok? That means they're still out there somewhere… we just gotta go find 'em."

Mikey nodded. Remembering suddenly that he still had his brother's sai, he took the weapons out of his belt and held them out for Raph to take. Raph shook his head, a pained expression flashing across his face.

"Keep 'em for now, Mike. I still got… Leo's swords. We'll switch back once we're _all_ together."

Raph got to his feet resolutely, offering Mikey his hand. After a minute, Mikey let Raph help him stand up. Raph nodded in satisfaction. The satisfaction almost immediately turned to confusion as he looked back down at his shell cell.

"Alright now… I t'ink there's some way to track da others with the phones, but… that's Donny's job. I ain't sure…"

He broke off as Mikey huffed impatiently and grabbed the phone from his hand.

"For Pete's sake, Raph, it's not that hard," Mikey grumbled, sounding so much like Donny that Raph actually managed a short laugh. Mikey ignored him, pushing a couple buttons until two small, blinking dots appeared on the cell phone's tiny screen.

"There," he said. Relief that the two phones were still able to send a signal was short-lived, however, as he studied the map. Raph watched as Mikey's face turned ashen and the younger turtle wavered, as though he might collapse.

"What?" Raph demanded immediately. "What is it?"

Mikey looked up, sadness marring his usually jovial expression. "One of them's down by the water… he's not moving. The other… the other…" He broke off. Raph took the phone and glanced down. There was the one on the shore, and there… Raph's heart sank as he realized what had Mikey so upset. One of their brothers – though he wasn't sure which one – was in the middle of Shredder's headquarters.

Shell.

This was _very_ bad.

"What do we do, Raph?" Mikey asked, hopefully looking to his brother for answers. "Who do we go after first?"

Raph held back a sigh of frustration, knowing that this wasn't Mikey's fault and it would be useless to yell at him. But the truth was, he was so angry at that moment. It was moments like this which always reminded him that there was a _reason_ Splinter hadn't chosen him as the leader, and he didn't like to be reminded. Especially not like this. Leo would know exactly what to do, and if he didn't then he would at least know how to make the others feel like he did. Raph was just lost, and now Mikey was expecting him to fix everything.

Choices like these were not usually left to Raphael, and he didn't like it, not one little bit. No matter what he decided to do, he was effectively abandoning one of his brothers to whatever fate they might be faced with. Mikey and himself couldn't afford to split up. He had to _choose_ which brother to save, and which one to leave. It wasn't fair. What would Leo have done?

Raph frowned, torn over the decision he was faced with and knowing that every second of his hesitation was probably costing all of them dearly. More than anything, he wanted to get to Donny first at all costs, remembering how Shredder had wanted him so badly… and he knew Leo would prefer it that way. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing which blinking dot was Donny's phone and which was Leo's. Heck, he didn't even know if either of the turtles still had their phones on them.

What to do?

Was this how Leo always felt? Raph decided maybe he'd ease up slightly on the leader, if he ever saw him again. No – _when_ he saw him again.

"Raph?" Mikey prodded, impatient.

"Let's go to the shore," Raph sighed, finally. "It'll take all of us to go after the Shredder. We'll stand a better chance with three of us."

He felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and mentally whispered an apology to whichever brother he was leaving in the Foot tower alone, and praying desperately that it wasn't Donny. Not that he wanted Leo there either, but he was sure Leo could hold out. Donny… well, not that he _couldn't…_ really… but, well, he shouldn't have to.

Mikey nodded, sensing the turmoil that accompanied the choice and kept quiet. Keeping an eye on the phone screen, the two ninjas headed off into the night.

oOo oOo oOo

Shell, he _hurt_! Leo lay still in the shallows, feeling the water lapping gently over him. It was so cold… the oldest turtle could feel himself starting to go numb, which was a blessing – it took the edge off the pain. That had hurt so bad… somewhere in the foggy recesses of Leo's mind, he made a mental note to himself never to take up cliff diving. Apparently, leaping headfirst off of insanely tall buildings – after battling ninja, running away at top speed, and then fighting some more – was a bad idea.

Who knew?

Leo briefly tried opening his eyes, but he was so sore and tired that he had to close them again right away. The waves pushed him farther up on the beach, and this time he didn't slide back at all. Leo lay on his plastron on the dirty beach; the damp sand was uncomfortable, but not enough to stop the unconsciousness that he could feel coming on.

Was that a voice? Leo was too exhausted to even think about hiding. Whoever it was had found him now, and that was that. He felt someone fall down in the sand next to him. Two sets of hands rolled him over, while two familiar voices were talking fast and excitedly over his head.

Leo blinked his heavy eyes open again but still didn't have the energy to keep them up. The last thing he had time to wonder before falling into beautiful oblivion was why Raph looked like he was about to cry.

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_R&R doesn't just mean "rest and relaxation". _


	8. Of Control

_A/N: Thanks, one and all! The last couple of days have been kind of yucky in Polaris-land, and all your reviews have really been bright spots! _

_Starfire201: Yeah, it was good that they could get to Leo but you're right... that's not going to make them feel a whole lot better. Especially after what happens in THIS chapter... O.O_

_Surprise! You guys get this a couple hours early because I'll be gone all day tomorrow and won't be able to post. Unfortunately, that just means you'll have to wait even LONGER for the next chappie! Once more, a thanks for Mikell, the ever-wonderful beta._

* * *

Bishop's life was starting to look up. Only three days after going to Saki for help, and already he had the turtle kneeling before him, trembling slightly from both the fear and the cold of the cell, but with the helmet firmly attached on his head. Bishop strongly approved of fast results.

Not that the ridiculous Foot ninja had been able to grab any of the turtles themselves. Bishop had been running his surveillance on the turtles during the entire evening. Really, that enormous van of theirs… did they _really_ believe it would be hard for anyone to spot that huge monstrosity trundling down the street?

Not that anyone ever _did _seem to notice it, for some reason…

Wiring it to detonate had been the simplest thing in the world. Then all he had to do was sit back and watch from his vantage point of safety and keep an eye on the cameras that he had set up to watch the rooftop above the alley where the Foot ninja had converged to draw out their four terrapin enemies. Blowing up the van would bring them all running back and the ninja he had waiting with him could've gotten all of them at once – but then Donatello had arrived on the scene first, alone. Why ignore fate's little gifts?

Easiest job_ ever_.

He had wanted to laugh – actually, he _had_ laughed, quite loudly – as he'd watched the turtles remove their masks and change weapons. He'd shaken his head, because he knew it would work. Those Foot ninja obviously couldn't see the little things… the minute details that made them unique and identifiable. The way, for example, each turtle was a different shade of green… the way Michelangelo couldn't stop that _infernal_ grinning, even in a battle… the way Raphael never actually stopped moving, even while standing still… the way Leonardo would continuously shift to place himself in front, between the enemy and his brothers … the way Donatello would occasionally stop and stare at his surroundings, as if somewhere in his mind he was actually _computing_ the next best course.

Really, Bishop had always thought that "knowing the enemy" was supposed to be a big deal for this Eastern style of fighting. Even _he_ could see the subtleties, but perhaps that was because he had actually made a study of the four turtles. How he would love to get one on the dissection table… But he had promised Saki the remaining three to do with as he liked, and he needed Saki's cooperation a little while longer. Perhaps when Donatello had served his purpose?

Bishop resisted the urge to rub his hands together and cackle maniacally. It wouldn't do to become too cliché. Such a thing was hardly fitting of a federal employee, which he was going to be again once he was finished with Donatello. The turtle was his ticket back into the government's good graces; now that he could control him, all he had to do was send the terrapin out on a widely publicized killing spree.

The army wouldn't be able to stop him, oh no. Not with Bishop at the controls. He would force the turtle to kill as many people as was possible, then maybe he'd go after someone important. A senator. The director of the FBI. Maybe even the President. Of course, Bishop was a patriot and would never allow that murder to happen. He'd be sure to step in at the last minute, the apparent hero who was the only who could stop the turtle when no one else could. They'd be on their hands and knees, _begging _him to come back.

Oh, it was going to be good.

Bishop frowned. He hoped he could count on Saki to contain the other three turtles. He'd had enough experience with the four brothers to know that they would never rest with one of their own in captivity. Bishop had repaired some minor damage to Donatello's phone, knowing that the others could trace him that way. That should draw the other three in, but from there it was the job of Saki's ninja to nab them.

So far, Bishop simply wasn't impressed with the Foot. If necessary, he would have to use Donatello to stop the others from escaping. Then he would have to do something about Saki. Government agents doing illegal things couldn't afford to have witnesses lying around.

oOo oOo oOo

In his office, Oroku Saki paced back and forth, pondering the opportunity for which he was poised. That device that Agent Bishop had created… frankly, Saki was intrigued. Imagine the possibilities, if he could have his scientists reverse engineer such a device. Remote controlled people… unable to stop themselves from doing the Shredder's bidding… World domination was _so_ much simpler when people took over themselves. It saved him a great deal of energy and work.

And imagine, it was all thanks to Donatello! Saki desperately wished he could see the look on Leonardo's face when he was faced with his own brother attacking him against his will. Revenge was so sweet.

Oh, it was going to be good.

"Master?"

Saki turned to the ninja who had entered and was now bowing respectfully.

"Mr. Bishop says he is ready to begin the first trial, if you wish to witness."

Saki allowed a smile to cross his face, though it wasn't a pleasant one. He strode out of the office towards the dungeons. He wasn't going to miss this for anything! It would be such a treat to see one of the obnoxious turtles brought down. Saki would let this play out a while longer.

Then he would have to do something about Bishop. Alien tyrants taking dictatorship over an entire planet couldn't afford to have government agents lying around.

oOo oOo oOo

Donatello bit back a whimper as he turned his head, following the sounds of Bishop's movements. He was still waiting to feel the white hot pain slam into his head and the images to start coming. His mind was racing, trying to think what Bishop could possibly want to find out, and why he hadn't tried _asking_. Not that Don was willing to give up _anything_, but he'd like to know what he should be trying to hold back. He didn't trust the agent for a second when he said he had other plans. What else could a helmet like this _do_?

"Almost there, Donatello," he heard Bishop say from his left side. Donny tugged at the chains furtively, but the cold iron clamped on his wrists didn't give an ounce of leeway. A computer started whirring away in the background and the federal agent chuckled. Donny could almost imagine him rubbing his hands together to along with the maniacal cackling.

How cliché.

"Ah, Mr. Saki," Bishop's smooth voice acknowledged as the other man appeared in the doorway.

Donny's head snapped back to the other side as he heard the door swing closed with a dull thud. His pulse quickened as he realized that both of his worst enemies were now in the same room alone with him and neither had his best interests at heart. Shell. Shell, shell, shell…

"Bishop," the noncommittal answer came. Donny thought he heard some anticipation in the voice. Great. At least he was going to _amuse_ plenty of people while yelling in agony.

"Now, Donatello, we're going to begin."

Bishop held his breath and hit the button. The helmet thrummed to life and the turtle immediately collapsed to the ground. Bishop brought up a panel on the screen to check the turtle's vital signs via the helmet. All of them indicated that Donatello was perfectly healthy, but his brain activity had decreased dramatically. Bishop smiled. Time to explore just how much control he had.

Accessing the voice command program, Bishop spoke clearly into the microphone.

"Get up."

The words had barely left his mouth when the turtle tried to leap to his feet. The chains were still restricting his movement though, so after a few more tries, he settled for kneeling instead. Bishop wondered how much reasoning the turtle would be able to do on his own.

Motioning a ninja guard over, Bishop took the key for the cuffs from him and tossed it on the ground just within Donatello's reach. The Foot soldiers standing by looked warily at Shredder, but he remained standing aloofly to the side, waiting and watching.

"The key is on the ground in front of you," Bishop said, ignoring Saki completely. "Get it and unlock the chains."

The guards automatically took a few steps back as the turtle immediately stretched out and felt around until he got the key. Bishop watched with narrowed eyes as the turtle tried to reach his other hand to unlock himself. The shackles, however, weren't long enough to allow that much of a stretch.

Here was the first test: simple, unaided problem solving. Could the turtle still figure out his dilemma without being instructed?

At first, Bishop thought Donatello might be stumped, but the monitor suddenly showed a quick flair of brain activity and the turtle dropped the key back to the ground. Getting his feet out from under him, he grabbed it back up instead with his toes and dexterously maneuvered it back up to the wrist cuff, which he had unlocked in a matter of seconds.

"Excellent!" Bishop said with a smile as Saki nodded approvingly. This was going to be-

"Excellent," Donatello repeated dully. Bishop frowned.

"I didn't tell you to speak," he snapped.

"I didn't tell you to speak," the response came back waspishly after a few seconds hesitation. Bishop's face darkened as he heard a muffled laugh from one of the guards and even an amused noise from Saki. He looked back at the monitor.

"Foot ninja are pathetic," Bishop said tonelessly into the microphone, feeling the bristle of irritation from the guards who had been laughing at him. He watched as the brain activity spiked, the turtle apparently trying to decipher his words as a command. When no command could be found, it seemed as though Donatello would just parrot what he heard instead. Interesting.

"Foot ninja are pathetic," Donatello snorted derisively, with much more feeling than Bishop had used. Bishop smiled again. Apparently the turtle already had an opinion on that matter in his subconscious. The smile left his face again. Just how strong _was_ the turtle's subconscious? His plan would be ruined if the power of the command wasn't strong enough to overcome ingrained feelings.

"It would seem that your helmet cannot take complete control over the turtle," Saki said from the sidelines, apparently having drawn the same conclusion. "Some of his own mind is coming through. Why don't we test how strong your device actually is?" Saki stepped forward, drawing a dagger and throwing it to the ground by the turtle.

"Your other hand is still chained. I want you to cut it off," he instructed the turtle, smiling coldly. Bishop opened his mouth to protest, but Saki stopped him with a glare. Bishop seethed inside. If Donatello lost his hand, he wouldn't be able to fight as well, as Bishop's plan required! He watched in trepidation, but the turtle didn't move.

"Well?" Saki demanded. Still, Donatello held still. Bishop turned back to the computer, realizing that while the turtle must be able to hear Saki, the monitor didn't show any acknowledgement that a command had been given at all.

"He's connected to the computer, which only recognizes my voice," Bishop explained, covering the microphone to stop the ridiculous mimicking. "He won't obey anyone but me." It was a struggle to keep the smirk out of his voice.

"Then _you_ tell him," Saki snapped, clearly furious.

Bishop shook his head. No need to cause permanent damage to his puppet when something less drastic would answer the same question for him.

"Donatello. There's a dagger in front of you. Make a cut on your palm with it."

The brain activity monitor spiked again, flickering up and down as Donatello's self-preservation survival instincts fought against such an obviously harmful suggestion. The reaction was slower than Bishop's more basic commands, but soon the knife was in the turtle's hand and he dragged it obediently across his palm, leaving a small trail of blood.

Bishop leaned back in gleeful bliss. It was as he had hoped. No matter how strong the turtle's mind may be, it was a physiological impossibility to fight the command. He motioned for the ninja guard to chain the turtle's hand back the way it was as he switched off the computer, satisfied with the trial run. As the helmet was deactivated and pulled off Donatello's head, the turtle slumped back, unconscious.

"Ah, Donatello, you and I have so much to accomplish together…" Bishop smirked as he packed away his equipment, ignoring Saki as the Japanese man swept from the room, looking irate. "As soon as your brothers arrive, we'll begin the next stage."

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_Please review?_


	9. Of Apologies and Reunions

_A/N: Yay, Polaris-land is seeing sunny skies again! Looks like the pickle incident is behind us… =) Thanks to all my reviewers who made everything a little brighter. As always, here's a response to my anonymous:_

_Starfire201: "Trouble" between them is one way to put it, LOL. But oh boy if you think they're having trouble NOW… heh heh heh…_

_Pig: Yeah, Bishop's a twisted little cuss. Glad you like the plot, cause Donny sure doesn't. ;-)_

_Sara: Thanks!! I'm really glad to hear that you can "see" the situation, because I really try to make that happen. It's always great to be successful. I hope you continue to enjoy!_

_So, on with the story! This chapter takes us back to the other turtles initially, but don't worry… methinks Donny will be making an appearance as well. _

* * *

"My son?"

A gentle hand on his shoulder. The feeling of someone shaking his arm lightly. Another hand, a different one, prodding him more urgently.

"Yo, Leo! We ain't got time for dis. Come on, get up!"

An admonishing sound. Leo could imagine the look that Master Splinter was probably giving Raph. He sighed, not wanting to open his eyes, but knowing he would have to soon. Never again… he was going to swear off jumping from rooftops forever.

"_Leo_!"

"Alright!" Leo snapped, rolling onto his side sluggishly. "Alright, I'm up." Opening his eyes blearily, he recognized the Lair, as well as the three familiar faces staring down at him. Splinter's old face reflected worry, while Raph and Mikey, masked once again, showed relief and a certain sense of impatience. But where was…

"Donny?" Leo whispered, dread filling his mind. His fears were confirmed when his two brothers glanced at each other sadly before looking down. Leo closed his eyes again. So he had failed after all. Everything he had done… the best he could do… just hadn't been good enough. Figured.

"They got 'im," Raph answered. Leo sighed, the weight of leadership settling heavily on his shoulders. He was supposed to have protected them… he was responsible for his brothers… he was supposed to have kept them safe.

"What happened?" Leo asked finally, forcing his voice to remain steady. With an effort, he sat up, ignoring the protests from his aching body. "And are the rest of you ok?"

"We're fine," Mikey answered in a small voice, seeming almost apologetic. "They didn't come after me… You've been out of it for about an hour, though. What exactly happened to y-"

"Donny's in Shredder's Tower," Raph cut in bluntly. "Or his shell cell is, anyway. We ain't got a clue what happened though."

"There was an explosion…" Leo mentioned. Raph shook his head.

"Someone got to da Battle Shell. It's… well, it's completely gone. Ain't no way to salvage that t'ing. But Donny couldn'a been inside it, or his phone woulda blown, too. I guess the Elite guard musta grabbed him… I only had one of dem after me." He cracked his knuckles. "What I wouldn' give for a fair fight wit' those mot-"

"Monsters," Leo finished, frowning. "But, the other three were following me… they thought _I_ was Don, so they couldn't have grabbed him. Shell, who _did_, then? It couldn't have been the Foot soldiers – they couldn't have taken Donny down on their own."

"Who cares who did it?" Raph growled. "We gotta go get 'im!" He looked pained. "I wanted to go after 'im myself, but…" He trailed off, not meeting Leo's eyes. _But I picked the wrong blinking dot to follow and had to carry you back instead._ Somehow, there was just no good way to say that, and for once Raph realized this before he opened his mouth to try.

Not that he didn't care about Leo – but Leo wasn't the one they needed to worry about, and both of them knew it.

"But, you're ok, right?" Mikey broke in, saving Raph from having to finish. He looked hopefully at Leo. "So, we can like… you know, go get Donny now, right?"

"Yes," Leo answered firmly, catching Splinter's eye. The old rat nodded wordlessly, knowing there was no time for planning or recuperating. From the look on his face, Leo assumed Raph had filled their master in on the conversation they had overheard. "We're leaving right now."

Respectfully, he bowed to Splinter. "By your leave, Master Splinter."

"Go, my sons," Splinter responded with a sigh. "Find your brother and bring him home."

"Don't worry, Masta Splinter," Raph growled. "We ain't comin' back without 'im." He turned to his oldest brother. "Oh yeah, before I forget…" He held out Leo's katana and sheaths. "T'anks, bro."

"Yeah," Leo sighed, taking his weapons back. Too bad he had lost Donatello's bo for nothing. Strapping the sheaths back in place on the back of his shell, Leo forced an optimistic smile to his face. It wouldn't fool the naturally cynical Raph, but it did a world of good for Mikey and it wouldn't hurt Master Splinter, either.

"Ok, let's go get Donny!"

Mikey perked up immediately, happy to be moving in a forward direction again, before slapping his forehead suddenly.

"Wow, totally forgot, dudes! I gotta go get more 'chucks! I kinda doubt old Shredder will just give me mine back if I ask him real nice."

"Go ahead," Leo grinned.

"We'll meet you in the sewers, Mike, just hurry it up," Raph suddenly said, motioning for Leo to go ahead. Leo glanced at Raph quizzically as Mikey nodded and dashed off towards the dojo, but Raph just stared pointedly back at him. Shrugging, Leo turned to Splinter and bowed again before the two exited the Lair into the cold sewer.

They trudged along in silence through the dark tunnel for less than a minute when Raph stopped and turned to his brother.

"Leo… I jus' wanted to say…" Raph trailed off, rubbing his head in discomfort. Leo waited, wondering what his brother could possibly have to say that was so hard for him, and which he obviously didn't want Mikey around to hear.

"What I mean is…" the red banded turtle continued. "Well, when it was just me an' Mikey, an'… an' I had to pick which one o' you we should go after…"

He stopped again. Leo set a hand on his shoulder, still confused.

"I'm not mad that you were hoping it'd be Donny you got to first, if that's what you're worried about," he tried, but Raph shook his head. "I would've told you to get him before me. I mean, it's _Donny, _you know?"

"Nah, it ain't that… I sorta figured that's what you'da wanted me to do… it's just…" Raph looked away, shrugging away from Leo's hand. He'd never been good at this sort of thing, but he had already started… he was obligated to finish now.

"It's… I get it, now," he mumbled quietly. "I know I ain't always the best one at listenin' to your decisions, but… I know how hard they can be for ya sometimes. I know it ain't easy. An'… I'm… I'm… sorry."

To Raph's relief, Leo didn't laugh as he almost thought he might. A look of sudden comprehension crossed his brother's face as he finally got what was really bothering the other turtle. Taking advantage of Mikey's absence, Leo reached out and gripped Raph's shoulder again.

"Raph. Listen to me. You did the right thing. That was an incredibly difficult decision that you were left with, and either choice _could_ have turned out wrong. Don't let yourself start to wonder what might have happened if you'd done something different, because you will _never_ know for sure, and you'll just drive yourself mad, trying. There was no way to know where Donny was, and you made the most logical decision. You did what I would've done, if that's any comfort at all. With any luck, it'll turn out for the best."

Leo let go and turned away, checking behind them to see if Mike had caught up yet. Raph was still quiet behind him.

"And by the way," Leo added, a smile crossing his face. "Apology accepted. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Raph couldn't help but chuckle at that, even as he secretly felt a bit of relief.

oOo oOo oOo

"Why does this feel like it's all been way too easy?" Raph muttered under his breath as he constantly scanned the corners for moving shadows that would give their enemies away. Finding an entrance to the Tower had been much more difficult than usual this time. Usually, they'd have Donny running some sort of technological surveillance type… _thing_… and he could tell them where the all entrances were, how to access them, and what sort of security they'd be facing.

How, no one but him would ever understand.

This time, though, they were running around blind. After some time-consuming, old-fashioned scouting, they'd ended up simply taking an old access way through the sewer itself, which had taken them into the deepest and darkest of the Foot Tower sub-basements. Now, it was just a matter of working their way up the levels of the Tower until they found their brother, hopefully without running into too many guards or tripping any alarms that they had no way of knowing of.

So far, that part had been a cake walk, which was when the ninjas started to worry.

"We ain't seen a single guard in here, Leo," Raph muttered. "Somethin' ain't right."

"I know," Leo answered in a low voice. "Shredder _had_ to know we'd be coming. Why is there no one here?"

"You know this is probably a trap."

Leo looked at him sadly and nodded. "Yup."

"You know Shred-head would _expect_ us to keep comin' even if we _knew_ it was a trap."

"Yup."

"We goin' on anyway?"

"Yup."

Raphael nodded in satisfied agreement, pleased at this odd show of recklessness from his normally overly cautious leader. Let them come, he was ready to bust some more heads!

"Hey, dudes, we already passed the floor with the dungeons," Mikey pointed out quietly as they continued walking, always scanning their surroundings. "What if he's… ya know, not here anymore?"

"I checked for his phone's signal already," Leo answered, keeping his voice low still. "Whoever had it must have realized we could trace it and turned it off. There aren't any guarantees here, Mikey."

"Wait… you tellin' me we might be walkin' into Shredder's hands for _nothin'_?" Raph growled, throwing up his hands. "Well, ain't _that_ great?!"

Leo glared at his brother, motioning for him to keep his voice down. "Raph, we just got done saying this was most likely a trap. It's not like you don't know the score. Besides, I doubt they'll have moved Donny. Shredder wanted him here, remember? I'm sure he's around here somewhe-"

Raph threw out an arm, cutting Leo off as he held both his brothers back. All of them froze, listening with all their might. The corridor they were in was silent and empty, but Raph felt his nerves tingling with furious energy. Something_…_ or _someone…_ was up ahead.

Leo felt the presence of someone else as well, but it confused him. It felt… off, somehow. Familiar, but completely alien to him at the same time. Pushing aside Raph's arm, Leo led the others forward with the complete and utter silence of a trained ninja, and peeked cautiously around the corner.

There, with his shell to them and his head lowered, was the missing Donatello! He was kneeling in the corner, presumably hiding from any guards that might be following him, though he didn't seem to hear his brothers coming up behind him.

"Donny!" Mikey yelled, stealth forgotten in his relief. "You got away! We've been looking for… for…"

The youngest turtle trailed off as the three watched their brother stand up and turn around. Only now did they see the helmet that was on his head and the sword that was in his hand. Mikey gulped, glancing at Leo to see what he made of the situation.

"Don?" Leo ventured, suddenly unreasonably afraid. Swallowing his fear, he stepped forward. "Bro… can you hear me?"

"Leo, I ain't likin' this," Raph growled behind him. Something about that helmet… something about the way Donny's mouth was slack, his posture drooping… something about the fact that _Donny_ was carrying a blade… something was wrong. Very… very… wrong.

"Donny?" Leo tried again, cautiously taking another step and reaching out.

At the speed of light, Donatello suddenly tensed up and brought the sword slashing down at his brother's head.

* * *

_Make reviews, not war!_


	10. Of Puppets and Nunchucks

_A/N: Thanks, guys! I love reading your reviews. _

_MidnightMoonWarrior: Here's your update! LOL. Keep up the enthusiasm._

_Pig: Hahaha, keeping people in suspense is SO much fun… I'm really getting a kick out of this. =D_

_Sait4soreyes: Thanks! I did try really hard to keep them in character. Leo is such a great big brother… I want one. Heehee._

_Well, I know you all would probably like to know what happens next with Leo and Donny, but I'm afraid that will have to wait. We have a timeline jump here… we're going back an hour in time so that we can see Donny's POV instead. Isn't this exciting??? I'm excited!!!! LOL_

_Beverage warning: Mikell, put your tea/coffee/cocoa down! I invested in humor for this one and I don't want you spitting it everywhere! Bishop's gonna get just a little bit of what's coming to him. Heh heh heh…_

* * *

_One hour earlier_

Bishop had gotten inventive. The technology in this Tower was incredible… almost _TOO_ advanced in some ways, come to think of it… and it had been the simplest of tasks to update his program even further. Now, with the new equipment, he could link a lightweight body suit to his computer. The suit was little more than a second layer of clothing, with sensors in it to pick up his motion, enabling him to actually MOVE the way he wanted his prisoner to.

It would be much easier to get him to fight this way, acting out his commands instead of trying to talk him through it. A second trial had been needed, of course. _That_ had been an adventure…

"Commencing motion sensor command system… now," Bishop said. They were standing in one of the Tower's largest rooms, to fit in all the ninja at Saki's command – they had _all_ shown up to witness the defeat of one of their hated enemies. Bishop wasn't sure how much time he had before the other turtles showed up with some fruitless rescue attempt, and he knew he was rushing through important preliminary steps. Oh well… sometimes, it was necessary to jump right in.

"Here goes," he muttered under his breath when the computer beeped once to indicate the program was ready. Slowly, he took a step forward. In the center of the room, the helmeted Donatello mimicked his movements exactly. Bishop smiled before getting right into some basic fighting moves… simple punches and kicks that the turtle could easily copy. It worked like a dream.

"Excellent..." Time to move up to the next step. Putting a high-tech visor on over his eyes, Bishop activated the networking system between the visor and the computer. Now he could see everything through Donatello's eyes, thanks to a miniscule camera mounted on the helmet. A small screen in the corner of his vision showed him obstacles that might impede his own actual course.

"If you don't mind, Mr. Saki?"

Saki nodded once to a Foot guard, who immediately leapt forward to attack the turtle. Donatello moved a little unstably under Bishop's control at first, but as Bishop got a feel for the system, the fighting became more fluid and adept. One good swing to the Foot ninja and the fight was already over.

"So much for open-hand combat," Bishop grunted triumphantly. He gestured for a nearby soldier to hand him a set of nunchucks, to match the ones they had found on Donatello. "But if you want to take down the other turtles, that will never be enough." _And if I want to take down the entire government_, he added in his head.

_And if I want to take over the entire world_, Saki thought to himself.

In the middle of the room, Donatello stood, unmoving as a statue without a command to tell him what to do. Another ninja approached, wary of the turtle even while he was immobile, and pressed Mikey's captured nunchucks into his hands. As Agent Bishop raised his weapons, so did the turtle.

Bishop took a few practice swings, feeling them to be rather unwieldy. Funny, the orange turtle had always made these look so simple to use…

"Have you ever even used these weapons before?" Saki asked in mild curiosity as he watched the agent. Granted, he was doing better than many, but he seemed uncomfortable with the nunchucks. Bishop shot a half-glare his way, trying to keep his full concentration on the spinning weapons.

"Michelangelo uses these, so they can't be too difficult," Bishop snapped. No sooner had the words left his mouth when a rather unskillful wayward swing sent one wooden end of the nunchuck slamming full force into his own elbow.

Bishop only barely managed to bite back an agonized bellow. That… HURT! As he doubled over, grasping the injured joint and doing a pain-filled dance, he could dimly hear the Foot clan laughing raucously, also doubled over in their hilarity.

Next time, he'd have to use body armor, instead of just a sensor suit. His only comfort was that the turtle was mimicking him completely, so at least he wouldn't be the only one with a nasty, egg-sized bruise. Maybe he'd just give the damn turtle a gun. _That_, he knew he could use with lethal precision.

"Would you prefer for us to find you some weapons that require less… ability?" Saki asked mockingly, only just able to keep a huge grin from his ceremoniously dour face. His only answer was some very _un_-ceremonious words from the government agent.

"Again!" Bishop seethed, straightening back up and moving Donatello into a ready fighting stance. Saki shrugged elegantly and nodded to another Foot ninja. It never occurred to Bishop that there was a _reason_ that such weapons were better left to people who had taken the time to be instructed properly in their use.

Two seconds later, he'd knocked himself out.

oOo oOo oOo

Donatello was not a happy turtle.

The night had started off so peacefully… going on a recon mission with the bro's. What could have been simpler? Then Leo had made the startling discovery that Shredder was after him – Donny, who had never done anything to stand out as a threat to the Shredder as far as he knew.

Then had come the running across town, worried sick about his brothers (still unaccounted for), and, just to add some more fun, the Battle Shell that he had sweat and labored over to build had blown up practically in his face.

Wonderful.

Ah, but then it had gotten even better when he'd woken up, chained down in some dark cell of Shredder's only to realize that he was facing some bizarre team-up between Shredder and Agent Bishop, which made just about as much sense as an insect exterminator joining forces with a colony of angry fire-ants to rid the world of butterflies.

Then Bishop had come to see him holding a Triceraton helmet – a device that made Donny break out into a cold sweat when he saw it, remembering how agonizing it had been the last time it was used on him.

Add on to that the fact that he seemed to have blacked out for a good five minutes following Bishop's visit, he had a nasty cut on his palm that he didn't remember ever getting, and then he had blacked out _again_ at some point after Bishop's second trip to see him. And to top it all off, he _STILL_ didn't know why Shredder had wanted him so badly that he felt the need to sic the Elite on him. Oh yeah. It was just one of _those_ days.

Donatello was starting to get fed up.

He had just woken up again. As they were prone to do, the questions raced through Donny's mind: where were Bishop and Shredder? How had he gotten out of the chains? Who was doing all that laughing in the background, and what were they laughing at? Why couldn't he see anything? Why was he laying on the floor, holding what he was pretty sure were Mikey's nunchucks?

And why the _shell_ was his elbow throbbing so badly?!

Oh well. Time for questions later. Donny became suddenly aware of a heavy weight on his head and realized that he had at least one of his answers: he couldn't see because he was still wearing the helmet. Disgustedly, he pulled it off and got slowly to his feet, glad at least to not be chained anymore.

"Master! The turtle!"

Donny turned around and froze in his tracks, gulping. So, there was the answer to another one of his questions… the ones laughing had been what looked like the entire complement of Foot ninja. But they couldn't have been laughing at _him_ because they all seemed as shocked to see him as he was to see them.

Odd.

He rather thought that his being a prisoner in their building ought to have taken the edge off their surprise.

"Get him!" Shredder thundered.

"Whoops," Donny muttered, bringing up the nunchucks – _how_ had he gotten weapons?! – and backing away from the massive oncoming horde of Foot soldiers. If only he had his bo, this would be slightly less intimidating. Don glanced frantically around for a door or any way out. Instead, he caught a glimpse of the unconscious Bishop on the ground, in a full body suit complete with some odd visor and… nunhcucks?

"Glad I'm not the only one having a weird day," Donny mentioned vaguely, his mind turning back to the more pressing problem.

The first few ninja were already upon him and he struck out with the nunchucks, silently thanking Leo for his nagging insistence that they all learn other weapons than their own. He was able to take down at least a score of ninja who came too close, but he was backed into a corner facing an entire army of his enemies (on top of the mysterious headache, no less). The fight was destined to be short-lived.

"Bring him here," Shredder commanded as Donny groaned, frustrated to be caught again. "And someone wake that idiot up!"

Donny craned his neck to watch as one of the ninja knelt down by Bishop, shaking him roughly to rouse him. Don wasn't sure why the agent had opted for such a peculiar location in which to take a nap, but apparently he was a light sleeper.

"What is he doing without the helmet on?" were Bishop's first words upon springing to his feet, kicking the offending nunchucks away from him in furious embarrassment. "Why did you take it off? Removing the helmet without disengaging the program could kill-"

"I did not remove it," Saki interrupted impatiently. "And you disengaged it yourself, when you lost consciousness."

"What program?" Donny demanded. "What've you been doing?"

Bishop shot a glare in the turtle's direction before crossing the room in three angry steps to reach his computer. He typed heatedly for a few seconds, checking the readouts and statistics to make sure nothing had gone wrong with the program itself. To his relief, everything seemed to be in working order.

It must have been some loophole in the programming then. Donatello, of course, had been wearing a helmet, and thus hadn't been knocked out. When Bishop lost consciousness and stopped sending stimuli commands, the helmet had simply shut itself off, freeing Donatello from its control.

As soon as Bishop had a chance, he would have to remedy that.

"Master," a ninja announced himself as he entered. "The perimeter's silent alarms were tripped two minutes ago."

"That will be your rescue party, I imagine," Shredder sneered at Donatello, who paled and sent out a silent, earnest plea for his brothers to be careful. "Which entrance did they come through?"

"The sewer, Master."

Saki smiled predatorily and turned back to the turtle. He motioned for the helmet to be picked up and brought to him. "You," he announced to Donny, "are going to stop them for us."

Don just stared at his enemy, fear threatening to cloud his mind. Shredder was vicious, but not stupid. He wouldn't say something as ridiculous as that without a plan in mind. The blackouts, the nunchucks, Bishop passing out at the same time that he had woken up… the helmet… Don's quick mind had no trouble putting two and two together.

Fear, greater than he had ever known, took over completely. They were controlling him. Dear God, they were actually controlling him. And if he blacked out… he wouldn't be able to stop himself. He wouldn't know it was happening. He wouldn't even remember it later if he hurt his brothers… if he _killed_ his brothers.

"No," he whispered as the ninja approached with the helmet. "You can't… you can't make me."

Shredder laughed mirthlessly. The last thing Donny saw before his vision was covered again was his enemy picking up two sets of swords.

"Of course we can. And just to be sure there are no mistakes, _I'm _going to help you fight this time."

_

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_

Oh dear… review!


	11. Of Distractions and Escape

_A/N: Thanks everyone, for sticking with me so far. Even for the ones who don't review, it's a pleasure to be you choice of entertainment! =D (But special thanks to reviewers...)_

_sait4soreyes: heehee, glad you liked that! And yeah, I'd be beyond freaking out if I were in Donny's place. But, now you get to find out what happens next!!!_

_Pig: Ha! I think that's the understatement of the century! Yup, pretty sure this qualifies as a "bad day"._

_Thanks also to Mikell, my beta. By the way, Mikell… another beverage warning! (Hey, I like my comic relief…) Ok, I know you're all in suspense. So, this chapter picks up where we last saw Leo, Raph, and Mikey. It's a nice, loooong chapter. Enjoy! _

* * *

"Donny!" Leo yelled at the same time as his brothers, bringing up his swords in defense in the nick of time. He cursed under his breath as he felt Donny's muscles straining to break through his defense. Fortunately, he was the stronger of the two and managed to push his normally gentle brother away from him, knocking him against a wall.

"What the _shell_, Leo?" Raph yelled, staring at Donny. "What's goin' on with him?"

"I'm supposed to know?" Leo snapped, keeping an eye on Donatello, who was slowly getting back to his feet. "Because this happens all the time or something?"

"It's gotta have somethin' to do with that helmet."

"THANKS, Raph, I would _never_ have thought of that!" Leo shouted as Donny leapt at him again, swords swinging with way more skill than Leo had realized his brother had. He was actually rather put out… _he_ was supposed to be the swordsman of the family! He knew for a fact that Donny detested using bladed weapons… _he shouldn't be this good_.

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. There was just no way. Donny couldn't possibly wield a katana like this. It was no slight to his brother's ability, it was pure and simple truth: Donny did not use swords like this. This was someone else fighting him… someone he had fought before… Leo would recognize this aggressive, overly-confident style anywhere.

Somewhere in the building, it was the Shredder who was pulling Donny's strings.

"Mikey, help me try to get that helmet off o' Donny!" Raph yelled, trying to find some way to get close to his brothers without being killed accidentally by the flashing katana. Mikey followed him somewhat reluctantly.

"I dunno, bro," he said, thinking what a fantastic sci-fi movie this all would make. "Ya think that's a good idea?"

"Mikey!" Raph shouted in frustration, ducking under a sword. "Donny's trying to behead Leo! YEAH, I t'ink it's a GREAT idea! Get up here an' help me, NOW!"

"I'm just saying," Mikey said defensively. "This is one of those times that I'd expect Donny to warn us not to touch it, cause we don't know what'd happen, or something like that. Ya know?"

"Mikey, I swear-"

"Leave it alone!" Leo yelled, apparently listening to their conversation at the same time as he was trying to keep his brother from killing him. "Mike's right, Raph," he grunted while twisting back and under Donny's swing with all the speed he could muster. "We're not taking… _oomph_… any chances. Go find Shredder – he's the one controlling Don. We'll worry about getting that…_whoa!_... thing off of him later!"

"Leo, don't be crazy!" Raph snapped. "We ain't just gonna leave you with-"

"Go!" Leo roared, just barely blocking a vicious downward slice. "That's my _decision_, Raph! I thought you were going to start listening to me!"

Narrowing his eyes in silent fury that Leo would play that card now, of all times, Raph hesitantly backed away. Shaking his head angrily, he turned and ran, Mikey right behind him. See if _he_ ever apologized to Leo again.

oOo oOo oOo

"Wow, dude… check it out!" Mikey whispered to Raph as they crouched low in the shadow of the doorway. Finding Shredder hadn't been too difficult. Mikey had followed Raph up a few more floors and out into a large, open room.

In the middle, he could see Shredder, without his usual metal costume.

He was sword fighting himself.

Mikey shook his head. It was a crazy world. Beside him, Raph tensed up, surveying the impossible number of Foot ninja. Trying to fight through all of them to get to Shredder would be suicide at best.

"Mikey," he whispered, poking his brother. Mikey paid no attention, fascinated by the sight of Shredder wielding his huge katana, jumping, dodging, and swinging at no one in particular. Raph sighed and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow!" Mikey complained, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"

"Leo said Shredder's the one controllin' Donny, you shell-head, remember?" Raph retorted. "That's our brother Shredder's fightin'. We gotta stop him. I can take care of da Shredder if I can get to 'im… d'ya think you can find some way to keep the rest of dem Foot confused?"

Mikey chuckled quietly. "Oh _boy_, can I keep them confused…" Without another word, Mikey leapt to his feet and dashed right into the middle of the room. Every ninja in the area turned to stare dumbfoundedly at him as Mikey gasped, pointing at a completely empty space in the far corner.

"Holy sidewalk chalk, Batman, is that a llama turning into a zombie?" he shrieked theatrically. Without missing a beat, he spun and dashed from the room, going out a different door than the one he had come from, where Raph hid. Bewildered, the ninja looked from the empty corner to each other and back to where Mikey had been standing. Utterly nonplussed, they all stood dumbly, scratching their heads and trying to figure out what had just happened – because really, how _could_ they respond? – until Shredder paused his own fight to turn on them.

"Get him, you fools!" he commanded, sending the ninjas all into a frenzied rush after the turtle.

In his hiding spot, Raph slapped a palm to his face. That bonehead. Still, he thought, surveying the empty area, Mikey _did_ know how to clear a room. It was now or never. Moving from the doorway, Raph strode boldly into the room.

"Shredder! Why dontcha try pickin' on someone your own size?"

oOo oOo oOo

Leo stepped back and watched with amazement as Donny suddenly broke off his attack. Spinning on the spot, Leo's genius of a brother suddenly swung the katana and began thrusting and parrying furiously with the empty space in the hall behind them. Thankful for the brief respite, no matter how oddly it came, Leo took a knee, breathing heavily.

He assumed, as he saw Donny fighting invisible foes, that this meant the other two had managed to find Shredder. The entire scenario was so incredibly disconcerting though… Leo wondered what _would_ happen if he tried to remove the helmet. His natural instinct was to rip the evil device right off his brother's head, but his gut warned him that such a thing was not advisable when he didn't understand what he was dealing with.

Leo sighed in frustration. The irony was that if their places had been reversed, Don would probably know what to do. _He_ was the technologically inclined turtle, not Leo. Either way, they couldn't stay there forever while the others were buying precious time. Leo was about to decide that maybe it would be best to just try to lead Donny away and worry about the helmet when they weren't stuck in an unfriendly stronghold. At that moment, though, Shredder had apparently tried to run after Raphael, because Donny suddenly took off down the hallway.

"Hey, wait!" Leo yelled, even though he doubted Don could actually hear him. "Watch out for the-" But not even the presence of a solid obstacle in front of him could keep Donny from obeying Shredder's movements. Leo winced as his younger brother ran headlong into the wall – HARD.

Undaunted and trying desperately to keep up with the Shredder, Donny immediately jumped to his feet only to run into the wall again.

Actually, if not for how sick the whole thing was, it would've been pretty darn funny.

It was a good thing that the helmet at least offered his poor brother some protection, Leo mused as he moved forward to grab Donny's arm, to keep him from slamming himself into the wall a third time. Just before he reached him, Don suddenly went rigid, and then limp, apparently unconscious.

Leo just managed to catch him before he hit the floor, setting him down gently. He eyed the helmet again. Maybe now it would be safe to remove? Reaching for it hesitantly, Leo jumped nearly a foot in the air with shock as Donny suddenly gasped and sat up. Leo drew his sword again and stepped back warily, not sure what to expect. However, Donny simply turned his head back and forth wildly, as though looking for something, then reached up and tore the helmet off himself.

"…Donny?" Leo tried. Don's gaze snapped up to look at Leo, his eyes fearful and his breathing sporadic.

"L-Leo?" Donny whispered. "Where's… oh, God… Leo, are you ok? Did I hurt you? Please… please, Leo, tell me everyone's ok. Please… what hap… what's going on? Where're the others, Leo?"

Satisfied that Donny was completely himself, Leo sheathed his swords and knelt down by his shaking brother, wrapping him in a comforting hug.

"I'm fine, Donny… I'm fine, I promise. You gave me one shell of a fight, but I'm not hurt. I don't know exactly where the others are, but I sent them after Shredder. I'm going to go after them, but first we have to get you out of here."

Donny shook his head in protest, but Leo could see that Don was obviously in no shape to fight. The long night had taken its toll on the younger turtle, and Leo thought his brother might still collapse at any minute. He could see all kinds of bruises on him, in addition to a few cuts – including an angry welt on one hand – and one nasty lump on his elbow.

"You sent them after Shredder?" Donny asked, closing his eyes. He was starting to sound fuzzy. Leo hoped the hard wall hadn't given him a concussion, even with the protective helmet. "What about Bishop?"

"What… what _about_ Bishop, Donny?" Leo asked gently, a little confused. "Stay with me, bro, we're in the Foot tower, remember? This is… this is where Shredder lives."

Donny's eyes snapped open in annoyance. "I _know_ that, Leo, I'm not losing it. This whole thing was _Bishop's_ idea! Have you not seen him yet?"

"No…"

"Well, isn't this a touching scene?" the silky smooth voice interrupted them. Leo leapt to his feet, unsheathing his swords again in one swift motion. Bishop was standing in the hall a few feet down from them, sporting a sneer.

"I see you managed to remove my device without killing him," the agent said flatly, as though discussing the weather or the sports page. Leo's glare intensified. Good thing he hadn't touched it after all… he wondered why it _had_ shut itself off, but that wasn't the bigger problem.

"I'm giving you one chance to turn around and walk away," Leo snarled. Bishop smiled, pulling a gun from the holster at his waist. Automatically, Leo shifted between Donny and Bishop's line of fire, which only made Bishop smile more.

"Now why would I shoot Donatello?" he asked coolly. "_He_ at least is of some use to me. In fact, I probably have more use for him than _you_ do… He hasn't done _you_ much good, have you, Donatello?" Behind him, Leo heard Donny's breath hitch in his throat fearfully. If looks could kill, Bishop would have already disintegrated under Leo's wrathful eyes.

"You, on the other hand," Bishop grinned, "are both interfering and expendable. Good bye, Leonardo." Taking aim, Bishop's finger had time only to twitch on the trigger before he was suddenly knocked unconscious for the second time within the same hour.

"Leo!" Raph gasped, standing over the fallen agent with sai in hand. He held onto the stitch in his side. "We gotta move… Shredder's coming up behind me an' he ain't happy… Donny…?"

"He's fine," Leo assured him, wiping the sweat from his brow at the close call they'd just had. Guns. He didn't like guns. "And _thanks_! Where's Mikey?"

"I dunno…"

A nearby door slammed open, causing them all to jump as Mikey came tearing down the hall, looking frantic and half-crazy.

"Go, dudes!" Mikey shouted, grabbing Raph's arm as he passed and dragging his older brother along behind him. "Move, move, move! They're right behind me!"

"Who's right behind you?" Leo demanded, pulling Donny up to his feet.

"_Everyone_!" Mikey yelled back, not slowing down. Leo groaned and shoved Don in front of him. Chancing a quick look over his shoulder as they ran, Leo could only shake his head in amazement. Mikey hadn't been exaggerating. It looked like literally _every_ ninja they'd ever fought was pushing their way down the crowded corridor behind them. How Mikey managed to cause these things to happen was a mystery.

"Wait, Leo," Donny protested, pressing weakly against his brother. "The helmet…"

"Leave it!" Leo ordered, pushing him forward again. "No time." Now they could hear Shredder's furious roar at finding his way blocked by his own ninja. Putting on an extra bit of speed, the four turtles managed to reach the stairwell before the Foot could overcome them.

"They know you came in through the sewer," Donny gasped out, trying to focus on staying awake so Raph wouldn't be stuck carrying him out. Leo nodded and led them to a door that opened up instead into a lower alley.

"Then they'll expect us to go out the same way," he grinned. "We took time to find a back door."

Donny smiled, finally beginning to feel safe. To the east, they could see the first pink and orange tinges of the sunrise peeping over the tree line. The terrible night was ending, and he was free. With that last hopeful thought, reality finally gave way into unconsciousness and Donny collapsed.

_

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_

No cliffie this time… review?


	12. Of Anger and Soup

_A/N: Wow, you all rock my ninja turtle socks. I'm loving all the encouragement and support from my fantastic reviewers!_

_Sara: I know, Mikey is just... Mikey's a classic, all on his own! He's so much fun to write, the scenarios he inspires are just... they're just made of awesome! _

_Pig: Well, Donny's not going to be QUITE himself just yet, as you'll see, but it'll pass. But it doesn't end here... not yet!_

_This chapter does contain swearing, and not from the turtle you would expect to hear it from... just a quick warning. _

_Enjoy this chapter full of brotherly fluff, because there's still a ways to go yet in this little tale of mine. The ride's gonna get bumpy again soon, so consider this the calm before the storm... O.O *cue ominous music*_

* * *

By the time Donny woke up, it was already early evening again. He was in his own room – ha, Raph must have had to carry him in after all – and he wasn't alone.

"Leo?"

His older brother looked up from the book he'd been shuffling through, propped back in a chair by the bed and looking like he hadn't slept all night or day.

"Hey, it's about time you woke up!" Leo joked, smiling lightly. Donny could practically feel the relief emanating from him. For some reason, he was both touched and annoyed by this. It wasn't like they hadn't all had worse injuries before now. He was really only bruised a little, and that was mostly just from the explosion.

"Yeah… so, that was some night…"

"Don… I'm sorry," Leo said, his eyes downcast. Donny shook his head. He'd just known that this would be coming. He could've called it a mile away… one thing went wrong (ok, so all of last night had just been one massive bundle of 'wrong') and Leo was shouldering all the blame for it. It had only taken about thirty seconds to get to it this time.

Impressive. But, tiring.

"Ok, let's hear it," Donny said wearily, causing Leo to look up in surprise. "Why are you apologizing this time?"

"Well… I'm sorry it took us so long to get to you," Leo answered, still looking puzzled. "We got there as soon as we could…"

Donny just rolled his eyes. "So long to get to me? You guys busted me out the same night I was taken. I think that might actually be a record. It's not like I was stuck there for days this time."

"But we were still too late," Leo sighed, remembering with a shudder the terror he'd seen in his brother's eyes at the thought that he may have hurt someone, and the sick way he'd been forced to obey Shredder and Bishop's whims. "Bishop still got you in that horrible… _thing._ And I'm sorry that it happened to _you_… It should've been me. When I took your bo, I thought-"

"Leo, just _shut_ _up_ already! _Shut up,_ _SHUT UP_!"

If Leo had been confused before, he was shocked now. Donny rarely ever lost his temper like that. Now, his quiet younger brother was glaring at him with something akin to actual _anger_ in his eyes. Anger, and… hurt?

"It should've been _you_? Why? Because you can handle it and I can't, is that it?" Donny demanded. "What the _shell_, Leo? You don't always have to take my place just because you're stronger, ok? Believe it or not, _I'm_ a ninja, too! Just because I don't _like_ fighting as much as you guys doesn't mean I can't handle my share of the trouble we get in!"

"You're my little brother!" Leo snapped hotly, not understanding the problem. "I'm so sorry for wanting to protect you!" Donny growled in frustration.

"That's what I mean, Leo. _Stop acting like I'll fall apart without your protection_! I'm not helpless, and I'm sick of you guys acting like you have to hold back because of me, like I'm the weak link here!"

"I _never_ said you were the weak link! Donny, you _know_ that we know better than that!"

"Oh really, Leo? Then, let me ask you," Donny said with a glare. "If you'd overheard those ninja saying that it was you, or even Raph that they were after instead of me, what would you have done?"

"What do you mean? We still would have left and tried to-"

"_Bullshit_!"

Leo gasped incredulously. In all their lives, he was pretty sure this was the first time Donny had ever actually cussed. It threw him completely off-balance. Donny didn't often get truly angry, but when he did, everyone knew it.

"Don't you give me that," Don snapped, pressing on with Raph-like fury. "Don't you _dare_ sit there and _lie_ to my face! If it was one of you two that Shredder wanted, you would've stayed and _fought_. You would've done the sensible thing and tried to find out _why_ they wanted what they did instead of running away. You would assume that whatever happened, you or Raph could _handle _it. But if it's me or Mikey, you think _we_ have to be _protected_. The _only_ reason – the _ONLY _reason – we ran from that fight was because you were afraid poor, quiet, little Donny would never stand a chance like big, bad, ninja Leo would!"

"That's not true!"

Donny didn't speak, but met Leo's eyes and held his gaze steadily. Leo sighed and looked away, because to deny it again would have been a lie. Donatello just shook his head. He knew his brother felt a strong sense of duty as their leader to keep them all safe. But there was a limit to Don's appreciation of how safe he was being kept.

"Leo… I know you and Raph are the older brothers, and that you take that seriously. I appreciate how much you do for us. Truly, I do. And _thank_ _you_ for coming after me. But, for crying out loud, Leo!" Donny said exasperatedly. "Mikey and I aren't _that_ much younger! We've been training just as long as you, and we don't need you to always sacrifice yourself on our behalf! All I ask is – _please – _give us a bit of credit!"

"Oh, well said, dude! That was most excellent!"

Donny and Leo both jumped and turned guiltily to the doorway. They'd been so caught up in the argument that they hadn't realized their volume had drawn an audience. Raph, Mikey, and Splinter were all standing there, listening. Mikey was applauding, grinning ear to ear, as he came hopping in to sit on Don's bed.

"He's totally right, bro," he mentioned to Leo, giving Donatello a grateful smile. "You _do_ kinda have a hero complex, ya know. Which is fine, cause you make an awesome hero, but it really sucks being treated like your damsel in distress all the time. Oh yeah, and glad you're awake, Donny."

Donatello grinned and Leo threw up his hands, turning to Raph and Splinter for help. The help was hardly forthcoming though; Splinter was trying to hide an amused smile behind a paw, while Raph was shifting around and avoiding eye contact, uncomfortably aware that the two younger turtles had made their point rather well.

"My sons," Splinter said, shuffling into the room and up to Don's bed. "It does my old heart good to see you work out these problems so… openly." His tone was gruff, but his eyes were twinkling. Donny, who had been half expecting a reprimand for his language, relaxed as he realized his father was proud of him.

"I, too, am glad to see you awake, Donatello," he continued, directing his paternal gaze at the purple banded turtle. "I trust it is still permitted for _me_ to worry about my sons?"

Donatello ducked his head sheepishly and Splinter laid a paw on his arm.

"Love and concern for family is not a feeling that a leader can simply turn off, like a light. Your sentiments are well-founded, and I do hope Leonardo and Raphael will take this little discussion to heart, and meditate on what has been said here tonight." He fixed the oldest turtles with a stare before looking back to Donny. "But know this… your brothers and I would worry for you even if you were the strongest being in all the world… as you would for them. Would you care for some soup? It is good for the heart, and you have slept through both our afternoon and our evening meal."

"Wha- oh… yes, Master Splinter, thank you," Donny nodded, thrown off by the abrupt change of subject. His stomach rumbled and he suddenly realized it had been more than an entire day since he had eaten last. Enemies were notoriously lax in the area of feeding their prisoners. Splinter squeezed his arm gently, and his eyes twinkled again as he turned and left the room.

"Yeah… So…" Donny said, already feeling embarrassed, and a little bad for the wounded look on Leo's face. "How _did_ things go last night?"

Mikey started laughing hysterically, completely unfazed – as always – by the awkward atmosphere that had settled. "Dude, you shoulda _seen_ it! It was fantastic! So get this, I totally had the entire Foot population chasing me around the Tower-"

"I still can't believe you let him do that, Raph," Leo muttered, shaking his head. "'Keep them confused, Mikey'… honestly…"

"Well, ya told me t' stop da Shredder," Raph snapped, coming in and perching himself on the edge of Donny's desk. "An' that was hard enough as it was… he kept tryin' to fight _you_ instead. Finally I guess it got too confusin' for 'im… an' he was tryin' to see where he was goin', to run after me, so he took his own liddle hat t'ing off."

"He took his off first?" Donny said, pondering. "Without stopping to turn it off, I'm sure… that must be why mine deactivated. It was the same way when Bishop knocked himself out."

"Whoa, same way as _what_?" Mikey asked with a delighted face. "Bishop did _what_?!"

Donny couldn't help but laugh at Mikey's ability to always be utterly at ease, and to cause others to be as well. The terror and helplessness he had felt was slowly disappearing now in the safety of his own home, with the knowledge that none of his brothers had been hurt in the end.

"You would've loved it, Mikey… he was trying to make me fight with nunchucks, but he didn't know what he was doing…"

Donny filled them in as much as he could remember from the time they had split up on the rooftop, eating the soup that Master Splinter had brought him (he noticed that Splinter also brought Leo a bowl, and that his brother dug into it in a way that made Donny suspect Leo had refused to eat until Donny was awake). They, in turn, told him everything they had found out or guessed at. By the time they had finished their narratives and discussions, it was already getting late and Donny was exhausted.

"I hate to be rude, guys," he said, trying to smother a jaw-cracking yawn. "But I need to sleep."

"Ya just woke up," Raph frowned. "You've _been_ sleepin'... ya slept all day. D'ya think-"

"Raph," Donny interrupted with a smile. "I just spent almost an entire night with my brain being turned on and off and screwed around with. That takes a lot out of a guy… I just need to let my mind have a rest for a while, just to reset itself."

"Besides having to fight like the Shredder," Leo pointed out. "That must have been as tiresome for _you_ as it was for _me_!"

"Besides having to listen to Bishop _and_ Shredder's evil mastermind plans!" Mikey piped up. "If _that_ won't put someone to sleep, I don't know what will! Anyway, glad you're not, ya know, _dead_ or anything."

The older two turtles glared at Mikey, but he just shrugged.

"Well, after all those dreams I was having earlier this week… I dunno… I kept dreaming that… well, that Donny was being killed. So, I'm just glad, ya know, it didn't actually happen."

"Not every dream is a premonition, Mikey," Leo said rolling his eyes. "Sometimes, dreams are just… _dreams_."

"Yeah," Mikey said thoughtfully, but he didn't look convinced. "But dude, be careful in the near future, won't ya?"

Donny smiled and nodded before releasing another yawn. Bidding him good night, his brothers all stood up and quietly exited the room. Upon reaching the door, Leo turned, hesitating before he spoke.

"We're not just going to let Bishop get away with this, Donny. Tomorrow, you and me are going to start making plans."

Donny nodded. He hadn't wanted to admit that the idea of the helmet still being out there, Bishop still desperate to recapture him, was a thought that scared him half to death. Leo took a deep breath.

"Donny… I don't think you're weak. Please… please don't forget that. I never meant for you to feel otherwise, and I'm sorry if you've been treated that way. What Bishop said to you… about us not having any use for you… well,_ that's…_ bullshit, as you would say."

Don smiled at Leo's discomfort in swearing. Leo rolled his eyes but kept going.

"But Master Splinter's right… it doesn't matter how strong you are or aren't. You're my brother and I will always worry about you. It's the way I am, and nothing could ever change that."

"I know," Donny sighed. "And I'm sorry I snapped at you…"

"No, I deserved it. Just… I want you to know, I think you're one of the strongest guys I know, in more ways than one."

"Thanks, Leo…" Don said sleepily, his eyes drifting closed. "But how many guys do you actually know?"

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_Reviews are a few of my favorite things..._


	13. Of Death and Deception

_A/N: Thanks for reading!_

_Starfire: Yeah, Leo needed that telling off. I think Donny secretly enjoyed getting to be the one to do it. Heehee._

_Pig: You know what they say, it's always the quiet ones. Donny couldn't be quiet forever! _

_Alright, guys. Here we go. Hopefully I don't lose anyone here… We're now back up to where the prologue brought us. I'm only going to say this: **No**, what happened in the prologue (which overlaps with this chapter) is __**NOT**__ all a bad dream. I don't really approve of the "just a dream" plot device. No offense to those who've used it, but you won't find that in my story. For anyone who wondered, this is the chapter that accompanies the DA illustration I had for this fic. I can't put a link on here, but it's on my profile._

_Stay with me guys. It's a bit of a ride, but I'd like to believe it's worth it in the end! _

_Thanks for my reviewers, and for my beta, Mikell. Even though she told me after reading this chapter that she wouldn't hide me from anyone who came after me with tar and feathers. Thanks, dear, you're a real pal. =D_

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The next night was clear and still. Something was in the air, though… the stillness was only the calm before a terrible storm. Some unseen, unknown force was at work, whispering a cold promise of doom. The night animals and small creatures all made themselves scarce that night, hiding in dens, feeling the chill in the air – the chill that had nothing to do with the weather. Something big was going to go down, and they wanted no part of it.

Up on the rooftops, scores of ninja waited, like silent stone shadows. Tonight, once again, they were hunting turtles.

This time, the Shredder was there personally. No more trusting the pawns to do the hard work. He'd had the turtle in his grasp, and he was going to get him back, at all costs. And if Bishop got in the way… Shredder didn't need him, anyway. He had his own scientists to work on that device.

"Mikey, slow down, you doofus!"

The chastisement was coming from close by. Shredder could hear them now… he could _feel_ their blasted presence coming closer.

Shredder smiled with a feral ruthlessness. Here they came. He knew they would come, the fools. They had learned nothing. They feared nothing. Before the night was through, they would learn to fear him. With a cautionary wave of his hand, Shredder motioned for his ninja to stay low, out of sight until the turtles were closer. There would be no escaping the trap this time.

oOo oOo oOo

For Leo, it was as though all of time had decided to stand still, the entire world holding its breath as it waited to see the outcome of this fight. He didn't think they'd have long to wait. It had been over before it had started, quickly and nearly silently on the rooftops of New York. Time had paused, leaving him aware of only a few fleeting impressions.

Blood.  
He tasted the blood from where a lucky shot had got him in the face.

Sweat.  
He felt the sweat running down his face, threatening to get in his eyes, but he ignored it and kept moving. He had to keep moving, or die.

Pain.  
It was all over him… the aching, burning sensation that he was fast reaching his limit, but he couldn't afford to stop yet. Not yet.

Darkness.  
Closing in on his sight, shutting down his senses.

And finally, the hard surface of the rooftop coming to meet him.

Leo felt the blows raining down on him, but there were too many ninja for him to fight back. He was defenseless, and from his position on the ground surrounded by a sea of legs kicking at him, he couldn't see his brothers. He could hear Mikey crying out in pain, though, and Raph's heavy grunts, and he knew that they at least were as bad off as he was.

He had led them straight into the ambush.

"Enough!" The call cut across the sounds of the battle, causing the Foot ninja to cease their merciless barrage of attacks on the turtles. Many pairs of hands grabbed Leo, pulling him from the ground up to his knees with his arms held firmly behind him and a blade hovering dangerously close to his neck. From the edge of his peripheral vision, he saw the same happening to at least two of his brothers.

Shredder stomped towards them, footsteps clanging raucously from his heavy metal armor. Leo glared up at him, though his enemy paid him no heed, apparently looking for something or someone other than the oldest turtle.

"Where is the fourth?!" Shredder demanded. "Fools! I want the one called Donatello! These three matter nothing. We need _him_ alive at all costs! Where is he?"

Leo twisted his head around as far as he dared with the sword still in place at his throat, casting about for Donny. Why wasn't he…

Before he could wonder how Donny had managed to escape and where he might be, Leo heard a sound that froze his heart, plummeting it down into the bottom of his gut. Raph started screaming in agony – not pain, but deep and infinite agony.

"NOOOOOOO! DONNY, NO! OH GOD, PLEASE NOOOOOO!"

"DONNY!" Mikey joined in, the raw fear in his voice tearing at Leo's heart. "DONNY! NO, NOT DONNY! PLEASE, NOT DONNY! _DONNY!_"

They were staring at a point on the other side of Leo. Mouth dry and eyes moist, Leo slowly twisted the other way to be met with a sight that he knew would haunt his waking nightmares for the rest of his life, however long that might be.

Donatello's body was on the ground, sprawled across the rooftops. His bo lay beside him, marked and scarred from the fierce fight he had put up. Blood was pooled all around him, far more than any of them had ever bled in a fight… it appeared to be seeping out of a wound from his plastron… right where his kind and gentle heart would have been beating… There was no discernible rise and fall of his chest whatsoever, and his darkened eyes stared unblinking and unmoving out into the starless and infinite night.

"Donny…" Leo whispered, paralyzed by the sight. To lose Donny _now_, after everything… it was impossible. It had not happened. This was not real.

"YOU FOOLS!" Shredder screamed, his fury knowing no boundaries as he struck out at any ninja unfortunate enough to be within reach. "YOU FOOLS, YOU KILLED HIM! I _TOLD _YOU NOT TO HARM HIM! I TOLD YOU WE NEEDED DONATELLO! KILL THE OTHERS, I SAID, BUT LEAVE THAT ONE ALIVE! HE WAS THE KEY-"

A flurry of movement interrupted the Shredder's tirade. Raphael, it seemed, was very much _not_ paralyzed by the sight of Donny laying cold and still on the rooftop, and he had no plans of sitting still.

"Shredder!" he thundered, giving a mighty wrenching twist that sent the ninja holding him down flying. With a roar, Raph snatched up his captured sai and began fighting like a crazed demon, utterly berserk. The Foot who had Mikey and Leo pinned down ducked out of the way, letting go of their captives and scattering in a desperate attempt to avoid the insanity that was Raphael.

"Do not let them escape!" Shredder shrieked, stepping forward to join the battle. Moving swiftly, Leo grabbed his katana and ran towards Shredder. Before he reached him, Leo dropped to the ground and slid the rest of the way, knocking Shredder's legs out from under him into an ungainly heap of metal on the rooftop.

"Guys, we need to disappear!" Leo yelled, doubting either one of his brothers could hear him anyway. "Mikey! _Mikey_!" His youngest brother was a whirling dervish of wood and furious energy, his face a mask of anger and half-blinded by the tears coursing down his face. "Mikey!" Leo yelled again. "Get Raph! We can't stay here! Fall back, _now_!"

Mikey nodded, acknowledging that he had heard, but continued to floor Foot ninja left and right, working his way towards his berserk brother. Trusting Mikey to take care of Raph, Leo leapt over falling ninja towards Donatello, not about to leave his brother's body behind. Scooping him up and hefting Donny's body over his shoulder with one hand, Leo grabbed his entire stock of smoke pellets from his belt, gesturing for Mikey and Raph to join him on the roof's edge.

The Foot ninja crept closer, unwilling to let them go, but hesitant to come within reach of the furious terrapins. Mikey fought his way up to Leo, using all his strength to drag a still wildly flailing Raph behind him. Michelangelo nodded at his oldest brother as they kept the approaching ninja at bay.

"Shredder!" Leo shouted, his voice full of venomous malice that did not bode well for their giant armored enemy. "You will pay for Donny's life with your own. This isn't over!" Throwing the pellets to the ground, the three remaining turtles disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Holding Donny's limp and unmoving body as carefully as he could, Leo leapt off the building, catching hold of the fire escape he knew would be there. Swiftly, he made his way down to street level, hearing the grunts and thuds of his brothers following behind him. As soon as they were all safely back on the ground, they ducked into the shadows of the alley, out of sight of the ninja still on the rooftop and anyone who might be following them.

Behind them on the roof, Leo could hear the Shredder still shouting out orders and various Foot ninja coughing as some of them were fool-hardy enough to try fighting their way through the thick smoke. Leo put his free hand on Raph's shoulder, ready to hold him back if he needed to. The red-banded turtle had grown quiet and still, although Leo could feel the furious waves of rage rolling off of him.

Mikey ran ahead to get the nearest sewer lid open. Holding it open, he used one hand to help Leo readjust his grip on Donny. Leo shuddered as he felt the wet, sticky blood from Donny's plastron, but ignored the ugly sensation and focused on getting down the ladder to the sewer floor without dropping his brother's body. When all of them had made it, they began heading silently towards the Lair.

"Leo…" Mikey began in a small voice, but he broke off.

"Not now," Leo said shortly. The rest of the trip back remained wordless, none of the brothers daring to speak. When the entrance to the Lair finally arose, Raph pulled the hidden handle automatically, not looking at anyone but striding inside brusquely.

"My sons, you have returned!" Splinter said, hurrying out of his room. "What-" the old rat trailed off as he saw their faces, then caught sight of his oldest entering the Lair with the body of his brother slung over his shoulder.

No one said a word as Leo moved towards the couch and gently laid Donny down on it. Mikey, following the leader's silent order, had stepped back out of the Lair and was grimly checking for any sign that they had been followed. He waited, listening intently for a sound that would reveal their enemies' presence. After a minute without sight or sound of any Foot invaders, the orange-banded turtle moved back inside, shutting the door behind him.

He nodded to Leo, giving the all-clear sign, as he approached the couch where the rest of the family had gathered. Still no one spoke as they regarded the still form of their brother.

"So," Mikey said cheerfully, finally breaking the silence. "_That_ seemed to go pretty well!"

"Yes, I'd _quite _agree," Raph smirked from behind the couch. "What do _you_ think, Leo?"

"Oh, I'd say that was a rousing success," Leo answered with a twinkle in his eye. "Donny, wouldn't you say so?"

"Yes," Donatello agreed from the couch, opening his eyes and sitting up with a grin. "Yes, I rather think I would."

_

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_

O.O R-review?


	14. Of Plans and Predicaments

_A/N: Heehee, so everyone seemed to enjoy that last chapter there… =D _

_Sara: LOL, thanks. It's nice to be hated in that sort of way, haha!_

_Cloud-of-Dreams: Me? Enjoy messing with people??? ME?? Oh, beyond belief… ^_^_

_WebMistressGina: Hahaha, like I've told some other people, I got such a sick pleasure from Mikey's line, knowing that people would be all WTF??? at it. Heehee… glad you're not hunting me down!!_

_Pig: Well, if you'd seen it coming, I'd be much sadder right now. I love being unpredictable! LOL. _

_To answer the question I got from many people: no, this story isn't done yet. I mean, they got Donny back, but he can't exactly stay "dead" forever. Besides, Leo promised vengeance. There's still the matter of Shredder and Bishop that needs tending to. =D I think you'll enjoy it. This is a calmer chapter before the action starts again… just so some people have time to lower their blood pressure. ;-) _

_Beware! Timeline jumps are in the future! (Haha, I just now got the irony of that statement… sorry.) Follow the italicized cues, and it won't be too hard to follow. This chapter starts right where the last one left off, then halfway through we go back in time to previously that day (which is the day after Donny and Leo's argument). Do enjoy._

* * *

Mikey's grin stretched from ear to ear as he handed Donny a towel to help get some of the blood off. Donny accepted it gratefully and dabbed at the front of his plastron, where a mixture of blood donated from his brothers had already gotten sticky. The medic in him had hated wasting perfectly good and usable blood, but they hadn't wanted to take any chances. The Foot ninja dealt in death often enough to tell the difference between real and fake blood; only the authentic stuff would fool them.

"You are uninjured, my sons?" Splinter asked, not able to keep the concern from his face or his voice as he eyed the bloody towel that Donny was holding.

"No trouble at all!" Mikey exclaimed with a grin. "Well, no more than we expected," he amended, sinking down into his chair with an exhausted sigh. He winced at the pain the movement elicited, knowing there would be plenty of bruises the next day. "Those Foot dudes really took advantage of us losing a fight on purpose."

"No kidding," Raph snapped, rubbing his sore plastron. Throwing a fight didn't come easily for the hot-tempered turtle, and he hadn't enjoyed just _letting_ their enemies beat up on him and his brothers. Sure, they could take it, that wasn't the issue…it was a matter of principle.

"Just wait until we have _our_ turn," he continued, cracking his knuckles with a malicious grin. "You shoulda seen it, Sensei… so there we were…"

Donny exchanged a glance with the leader as Raph and Mikey continued the harrowing tale of their narrow escape, which seemed to be getting more and more embellished as it progressed. Splinter listened with a pained smile frozen on his face, which didn't hide the aghast look in his eyes. Leo shook his head, rolling his eyes at his brothers. He hadn't been particularly thrilled with the plan either, as it went against _every_ natural instinct he had. Not that he could complain much – the entire idea had been his.

"So, what exactly was the point of all that again?" Raph asked, scratching his head. "Now the Shred-head thinks our genius here ain't feelin' too lively… remind me what that actually accomplished?"

"Yeah, dudes," Mikey sighed. "That was a load of fun and all, but we've still got an evil, mind-sucking helmet and two evil, mind-sucking arch-enemies to get rid of. What happens now?"

"Now," Leo said with a smile, "now the real fun begins. Here's the plan…"

oOo oOo oOo

_Earlier that day_

Leo and Donny sat in Don's room, playing a game of chess. It helped Leo think, and Donny was only happy to oblige, if it solved their problem.

"What does Shredder want?" Leo wondered aloud, studying the chessboard with so much focus that Donatello was almost expecting it to spontaneously combust at any moment. "What's his endgame? Where was he going, and what was he going to do? If I knew his endgame, I could plot out how he'd get there." Shaking his head, Leo advanced a pawn down the side of the board.

"He wants me." Don pointed out, taking out an open knight with his queen. "Does his reason really matter? Check."

Leo smiled and captured his brother's queen with a bishop hiding at the other end of the board, which Donny had overlooked completely. Donny groaned. "You were waiting for me to do that," he said in accusation. Leo nodded, but his face was still set in concentration of his problem.

"What else does he want?" Leo prodded.

"Me… alive?"

Leo finally looked up at that, giving Donny an odd stare that the purple banded turtle didn't like one bit. Leo glanced back down at the queen he'd just taken from his brother, than back up again. A light was slowly growing in his eyes.

"You're right… if you're dead, he has nothing… all we have to do is kill you."

Donny wished his brother didn't sound quite so serious when he said that.

"Oh, yeah… great idea, Leo…"

"No, I'm serious, you need to die!" Leo argued. "I mean, not _really_, obviously… but what would Shredder do if he believed you'd been killed?"

Donny stared at Leo. He was about to be talked into something, he could just tell. Donny _hated_ being talked into things, especially things that Mikey would highly enjoy. Don had learned long ago to gauge a plan by how much Mikey liked them… if his youngest brother loved an idea, it was probably _not_ a good one… for _anyone_ involved.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Why not?" Leo looked back at the board. Donny had the sudden impression that the leader of the team was seeing something beyond their game. "I think that's it, Don! Look, if we could pull this off and really make them believe it, that would change _everything_."

"I don't know," Donny said doubtfully. "We'd have to be _really_ convincing."

"You're right… none of that dramatic, slow-motion falling down crap like in the movies, but you could do it… and we'll probably have to use real blood. And…" Leo suddenly looked uncomfortable, his smile completely evaporating.

"What?" Donny demanded suspiciously.

"It's just… if this is going to work, we need authentic reactions… from everyone."

There was a long pause.

"Leo… what exactly are you saying?" Donny asked quietly, not liking at all where this was heading.

"Come on, Donny. You and I both know Mikey's a lousy liar. Him and Raph both need to be believable, too."

Donny was already shaking his head. Leo wanted their _brothers_ to believe he was dead? There was no way he was going to agree to _that_.

"I know what you're thinking, Leo… forget it. I don't care if Mikey's the worst liar on the planet. They _have_ to know what's going on. I won't do that to them, and that's all there is to it. How could you even consider that?"

"I don't _like_ it either, Don!" Leo protested with a sigh.

"And what exactly do you think Raph would _do_? When he found out… he'd leave, Leo. He'd _never_ forgive us for that. Besides, how will he react when he thinks I've just been murdered? You think he'll just let you take him home? You think he'll just calmly walk away from the ones who supposedly killed me?"

Leo paused. "I admit, that's not likely…"

"Raph's just going to have to know, Leo. You know you'll never get him out of there otherwise."

"But what about Mikey? You know-"

"What, you want Mikey to be the only one who _doesn't_ know? And how do you think that'll make _him_ feel? The only one you didn't trust to fake it? You're… unbelievable, Leo! Didn't we _just_ have this conversation last night? He can _do _this, Leo! Just _GIVE_ him some _CREDIT_!"

A silence filled the room. Don and Leo stared at each other, faces unreadable. Leo's two halves were at war with each other – the leader part of him didn't want to take _any_ chances on such a crucial operation, while the brother in him was in full agreement with Donny. It was wrong, and it was despicable and cruel. He was glad Donatello had argued so strongly against it, because Leo had _really_ wanted to be talked out of it.

"Fine," he said, yielding. "You're right, I'm sorry. We'll tell them everything. Actually," Leo's eyes twinkled again and Donny began to relax. "I think we can arrange to give Mikey an equally important role. If Bishop and Shredder act the way I expect them to…"

He broke off, staring at the chessboard again as though the answers were there. There was a knock at the door, but Leo didn't even look up.

"Come in," Donny called and Raph peered around the door, stepping into the room.

"You were right, Fearless," he said with a smirk. "Bishop scuttled outta dere back to his hidey-hole. Me an' Mikey followed 'im to his warehouse… we marked it on da map out there for ya."

"Thanks, Raph," Leo said absently, still focusing completely on the board. Raph rolled his eyes and grinned at Donny.

"You losin' again?" he asked, nodding at their game. Donny frowned.

"He's cheating, somehow," Donny protested. "I haven't figured out how yet, but he must be cheating." Raph shook his head and left the room, chuckling and muttering something about leaving the eggheads to their planning.

"Leo?" Donny prodded gently.

Leo wasn't listening anymore, though. Donatello got up from the table quietly, heading over to his computer. Leo was in full planning mode now, lost in his strategy forming and looking twelve steps ahead of the enemy. Don would leave him to it… he had every faith that his brother would come up with something good.

oOo oOo oOo

Bishop paced around his warehouse, trying to find a way out of this predicament. It seemed that this time, he'd gotten himself into a real mess. On the one hand, he had a fabulous invention, and now he knew that it worked. On the other hand… Bishop collapsed on a chair, weary of his pacing.

On the other hand, he had no Donatello, and no real means of getting him back. He had four angry terrapins who were probably after him, and a "partner" who would double-cross him at the first opportunity. Of course, Bishop had always known he wouldn't be able to count on Oroku Saki, but he'd hoped that when he made his _own_ double-cross, he'd still have the turtle.

Saki had taken his ninja out already, on the hunt for the escaped turtle. He'd instructed Bishop to wait for his call, but Bishop was pretty sure that if he managed to actually catch Donatello, he'd be most unwilling to share. More likely, he'd try to kill Bishop and use the helmet for whatever nefarious shenanigans he'd been planning all along.

Prudently, Bishop had taken the device and all the equipment that went with it back to his warehouse for safekeeping, where he would guard it with his life. Neither Saki nor the turtles knew of its location, so it would be safe until Bishop could get his hands back on the purple-banded turtle. The turtles would be quite furious with his previous treatment of their brother, of course, but they would be looking for him at the Tower.

"Blasted ninja," Bishop growled. All of them, utterly useless. The turtles had been causing problems for him from the beginning, and the Foot weren't shaping up to be any better.

There was still a chance, of course. If Saki could safely get a hold of Donatello again, Bishop would still have the opportunity to negotiate something with him. Bishop _really_ wished he could be out there, trying to catch the turtle on his own, but he was hesitant to leave his prized device unguarded. If Saki failed tonight, of course, he would just have to do it himself.

That was the key. Nothing was lost as long as Donatello was out there, just waiting for Bishop to get him back.

The phone in Bishop's pocket rang shrilly through the stagnant air of the warehouse. Bishop checked the caller ID before flipping it open.

"Saki," he acknowledged, keeping his voice cool and even. "It took you long enough… I've been waiting all day. Did you recapture Donatello?"

The simple, two word answer that Saki gave him brought Bishop's world crashing down around him:

"He's dead."

* * *

_Heh heh... Silly Shredder. Review?_


	15. Of Turncoats and Thieves

_A/N: Wheeee, this is so much fun!! Thanks for all the support, reviewers!_

_Scribe of Turesa: Haha, poor Don. Leo WAS very blasé about killing him off, wasn't he? _

_Livi-love: Sign in next time, you doofus! =P_

_Pig: Glad to hear it wasn't too confusing to follow. I really like stories that don't necessarily travel in a straight line, but I always worry that it'll be hard to keep up with. _

_You guys almost didn't get a chapter today. Is the document manager screwing up for anyone else? It wouldn't let me upload any documents AT ALL. I had to pull a Donny and sneak through a back door just to get this up today. Stupid website._

_For people with high blood pressure (wink wink, you know who you are) I guess it's only fair to warn you… I really… REALLY… love cliffhangers. That's all I'll say. Heh heh heh… this evil genius thing is FUN! =D_

* * *

"_Where_ is Donatello?"

"As I've told you already, Donatello is _dead_!"

"If he's dead, where's the body?"

"I do not have the body."

"Where is it?"

Saki slammed his huge, armored hand into a wooden column, reducing it to splinters. He spun on Agent Bishop, who took a step back but continued to glare ferociously up at him. Saki was getting tired of this pesky government agent. This entire deal had just kept getting worse and worse. Without the turtle to make the helmet function, there was no need for the helmet… without the helmet, there was no need for Bishop.

"The other turtles took the body with them," Saki seethed through clenched teeth, removing his own helmet and setting it on the desk. "And if you drove all the way up here to see it for yourself, you've wasted your time. I _don't have it_."

Bishop drew in a deep breath. He was fighting to remain calm. As soon as he had heard the news, he _had_ driven back up to the Tower with all the speed that could be offered by the government-issued sedan which he had never returned.

It was the only way, really. Bishop had spent a great deal of time in government service. He had worked with politicians, not known for their honesty. He had been in charge of many interrogations where people (or creatures) would say anything to save themselves. He had forged many dangerous alliances with people he didn't trust.

If there was one thing John Bishop was good at, it was detecting when he was being lied to. There was no way he was going to just take Saki's word for it over the phone that the turtle was dead. It could have been a trick, and Saki was merely holding out on him, keeping Donatello all for himself. True, Bishop had the helmet hidden, but he didn't put it past Saki to eventually find a way to get his hands on it. The only way to know _how_ precarious his position was would be to see Saki face to face.

"Look me in the eye," Bishop said quietly. "Look me in the eye, and swear that the turtle is truly dead."

"Of course he's dead!" Saki exploded, his sinister demeanor making him appear truly demonic in the flickering candlelight of his office. "How dare you question my word? Donatello is dead, and his brothers will return soon to avenge him. I have more important things to attend to than you! They will come here, as the fools always do, and this time I will destroy _all_ of them. I don't have time to sit here and argue with you over one dead turtle when there are three more waiting for me! Just… go!"

"Oh, I'll go alright," Bishop murmured. "But I warn you, if I find out that you have lied to me, I can assure you that you will regret it."

Saki spun to face him. To describe his expression as "unfriendly" would be the grossest of all possible understatements.

"Have a care, Bishop," Saki snarled. "I have killed men for much less reason than the disrespect you have shown me. If I were not so concerned with bigger problems, you would be dead already." Saki leaned in closer, but Bishop forced himself to stand his ground.

"You would do well to leave here, now, and not return," he cautioned. "Our deal is ended. If I see you again, I can assure _you_… my mercy will not be extended a second time."

oOo oOo oOo

"Leo, I really can't see Bishop running off to see Shredder and leaving this thing unguarded, just waiting for us to steal."

"Please, Donny, a little bit of faith. Why should it be guarded? You're dead, remember? It's useless now." Leo pushed on the door. "Dang it, it's locked!"

Leo had sent Mikey and Raph off on a mission of their own, while he and Don snuck into Bishop's private warehouse, in the hopes that they would find the mind-controlling device there. Luck had held, as the warehouse appeared to be quiet and silent; Bishop must be out. Unfortunately, they had hit a snag. The door refused to open, and Leo didn't see any discernible keyhole for them to work on.

"Watch out," Donny whispered, squeezing himself into the shadows in front of the building to take a look. There _wasn't_ any keyhole, but only a discreet keypad on the side of the wall.

Donny examined the panel of buttons while Leo kept an eye on the street behind them. All seemed quiet, but then again, it always did right before something catastrophic happened. Don sighed.

"It looks like he's got this wired so that we have one chance to put the code in. If it's right, the door opens. If it's not…"

"_What_, if it's not?" Leo demanded, not taking his eyes off the empty street.

"If it's not, bad things happen. But, this is honestly just a simple set-up… it's not hard to get around if you know what you're doing. Probably, it's just designed to keep the general, unmotivated, untalented riff-raff out." Donny smiled. "Fortunately, I'm not general, unmotivated, untalented riff-raff."

"What are you saying?" Leo asked, not pointing out that he fell into the category of riff-raff who wouldn't have a clue how to get in. "Can you work some magic here?"

"Easy enough," Donny whispered to Leo. Taking the cover of the panel off, he took a minute to carefully study the tangled jumble of wires that led to a fairly complex circuit board. Don chuckled, shaking his head. This was child's play. Truly, it was almost insulting to his ability. Twirling a couple wires together, he heard a click from the door. "Try it now."

Reaching out, Leo pushed on the warehouse door and it immediately swung open wide. Leo grinned and clapped Donny on the back of his shell.

"Great work, Don. Now, let's hurry up and find that helmet. We don't need Bishop coming back too early and finding both of us here."

"Hold on," Donny cautioned, pulling out something electronic from his bag that Leo had no name for. "Let me make sure there's no extra security. Not that I don't trust you when you say the place is safe, but it _is_ Agent Bishop, after all."

Leo nodded and waited patiently as Donny scanned the door and surrounding air with the something-electronic. Finally, it beeped quietly at him and he breathed a sigh of relief, giving Leo the all-clear sign. Together, the two turtles stepped inside the warehouse, shutting the door carefully behind them.

"What _is_ all this stuff, Donny?" Leo whispered as they stared down the rows and rows of crates and boxes of varying sizes. Donny frowned and felt along the wall until he found the switch to turn on all the lights. Pushing it, both turtles had to blink several times until their eyes adjusted to the brilliant light that filled the warehouse.

"Wow," Donny muttered with an impressed whistle. The entire room was full and cluttered, but with an air of meticulous organization. Some of the crates were open, revealing gleaming metal creations of some sort. Others were bolted shut, labeled with technological words that meant nothing to Leo, but which filled Donny with awe. A workbench was in the center of the room, similar to Donny's back in the Lair, but covered with more disturbing-looking things.

The walls, normal sheet metal underneath, were covered with pictures and diagrams. Many were horrible blown-up copies of various creatures, strewn open on a dissection table and gazing lifelessly at the camera. Others were nothing but scribbles, notes and plans that Bishop had made for himself. Along the wall in front of the workbench, a cluster of these papers littered the area, all surrounding a crude sketch of the four turtles.

It was towards this area that Leo hurried over to, while Donny picked up a stack of notes from the floor.

"It looks like this is half the technological equipment that Bishop had access to in the government," Donny said, shaking his head. "He must have been collecting all this for a long time, though… some of these pieces are amazing. But where's the helmet?"

"I can't tell you that," Leo answered, glaring intently at the open notebook he was holding. "But I can tell you how he got it to begin with."

Intrigued, Donny moved to stand behind his brother, reading over his shoulder.

_The Triceratons are filthy aliens, though I find it necessary to keep a contact among them, in order to monitor any further hostile activity. Their attack on this city only proves what I've been saying all along: none of these freaks can be trusted. I had believed the four turtles to be in league with the dinosaur aliens, but my contact, an easily bribed Triceraton, assures me that they are enemies of the terrapin creatures as well. _

_I learned from my contact that they had captured one of the turtles a while before, when they were attempting so foolishly to destroy the earth. This, of course, I had already known, but what I was not aware of was the device that they used on him. From what my contact tells me, it is some sort of instrument for memory-recall. I told him that I was most intrigued in this matter, and would trade him many precious stones in exchange for this technology. _

_He readily agreed, thinking that he had gotten the better end of the deal; after all, the turtle Donatello had destroyed the machine, and they had no use for it. He was a fool, and did not understand the potential that I now hold in my hands._

_I do not believe this device has been destroyed at all. In fact, I think it may be able to serve an even greater purpose than it did before._

_If my theory is correct, I will be needing the services of Donatello very soon. Today, I will be moving this helmet and all my papers on the matter to my secure warehouse… I fear my position in the government has become most precarious, and may be ending any day now._

_They thought they could get rid of me. I will show them… I am not so easily rid of. _

"Charming," Donny sighed. "He really is a basket case, you know?"

Leo didn't answer, but stood staring over Donny's shoulder. He grabbed Don's arm, grinning and pointing behind him. Donny turned around. There, hidden behind the row of stacked crates in front, was a second workbench. This one was mostly empty, but for two devices: the helmet, and Bishop's computer.

"Yes," Leo hissed triumphantly. Together, the two brothers made their way slowly to the bench, cautious of any further security that might impede their way. None were evident.

"You mean he really _did_ leave it unguarded?" Donny wondered aloud. "Unbelievable." Leo grinned, dispensing with the "I-told-you-so" that was on the tip of his tongue.

"Ok, Don… grab it. We're running out of time."

Donny nodded and reached out for the helmet, while Leo had already started heading for the door, hidden from its line of sight by the crates.

The helmet was in Donatello's hands when the unlocked front door slammed open to reveal a thoroughly angered John Bishop.

* * *

_Feed the author reviews._


	16. Of Blindness and Battles

_A/N: Wow, I'm seriously not used to getting so many reviews. Keep 'em coming, I thrive on this! Besides, responding to reviews is so much more fun than working on this stupid paper I'm supposed to be doing. _

_Starfire201: Ha, lots of people are wondering how Bishop will take it if he ever finds out Shredder was an alien. Well… just scroll down! =D_

_Scribe of Turesa: It's safe to look! No cliffie this time. Well, not really. _

_Pig: Heh, I'm sure Bishop would like that very much. But, Leo has other plans. ^.^_

_Mew Sakura: Thanks! I always love to hear that people love my stuff! =D And oh, you'd better believe Bishop's gonna be mad! Actually, it's rather amusing for those of us who AREN'T John Bishop… heeheehee_

_Sait4soreyes: ROFLMBO!!!! Giving yourself CPR… you're right, that IS a trick! Thanks for giving me a laugh! And of course, you're right… Mikey would NEVER have been able to get Raph off the roof if he wasn't in on it! Glad you caught that!_

_Beverage warning! Nothing's funnier than a thoroughly enraged villain, so careful with the drinks! *Huge grin!* _

* * *

In the fraction of a second it took for the door to fly open with a bang and Bishop to become aware of any visitor, Donatello had already slammed the helmet down onto his own head. The amount of courage that simple act took was overwhelming… his heart was pounding with merely _touching_ the thing again, let alone _willingly_ putting it on.

Leo had ducked down into the dark shadow in the middle of a niche of crates, shifting a few silently aside so that he had a view hole in which he could see Agent Bishop. His heart was also pounding, though he had long ago grown accustomed to ignoring such things and instead focused his mind entirely on the mission. _This _time they had been cutting it close.

Still, everything was going according to his plan.

Bishop had shown up _almost_ exactly on cue.

Pressing the earpiece that he'd had in place, Leo whispered in the quietest of voices that wasn't audible even in the frozen, shocked silence as Bishop and Donatello faced each other.

"Ok, Donny," he breathed. "He's about twenty paces in front of you. Hold your ground. You know what to do."

Donny inclined his head less than a millimeter, but it was all Leo needed to know that he had heard. Don's own earpiece was covered by the helmet and couldn't be seen by Bishop.

The problem was, Donny's eyes were also covered by the screened helmet. It would be up to Leo to be his vision, to let him know what was going on. If Bishop wanted to fight – and he probably would – Donny would have to do it blind. The brother in Leo was terrified for him. The leader in him knew perfectly well that Don could do it. Although, if Bishop thought he was getting anywhere _near_ that computer to turn it on, he was sadly mistaken.

"You!" Bishop gasped, finally finding his voice. His eyes took in the scene, staring in disbelief. It wasn't possible! Saki had assured him that Donatello had been killed!

Bishop was at a loss, a true and absolute loss, for the first time in his entire career. He had always counted on his ability to see through a lie, and he had been convinced that Saki was telling the truth. Donatello was _dead_. He _had_ to be. Yet here he was, bold as brass, and with the helmet on. The helmet that _should_ have been safely put away…

He had been tricked.

He had been fooled.

Against all odds, he had been duped. A small Japanese man who dressed up in a metal Halloween outfit had gotten the better of him. All that speech about his so-called mercy had been a lie. Saki _had_ retaken Donatello, and now he had sent the turtle here to kill him.

"You," Bishop said again as these seemingly obvious pieces clicked together. "_You_!"

"Me." The words came from Donatello's mouth, but Bishop could easily see Saki's hand in this as Donatello casually pulled his bo out of the strap on his back and held it up in an aggressive attack position. "Did you think I would let you stop me from my plans, Bishop?"

"How did you get the helmet?" Bishop demanded. "And how are you making it work? It's connected to _my_ computer. _My _voice is the only one that will activate it!" His eyes flicked to the workbench. Sure enough, the computer was there… but it was turned off. Then how…?

"I've had scientists working a little something out on their own," Donatello answered nonchalantly. "They've fixed this up quite nicely… much better than _your_ set-up if I do say so myself. Now _I_ control Donatello. As for how I acquired your marvelous device…" The turtle's face stretched into a smile. "I knew if I told you I had killed the turtle, you would immediately rush over here to the Tower to see me, leaving it unguarded for my ninja."

The turtle shook his head as if in great disdain. "You're entirely predictable. It's a shame, really… you should have taken better precautions to guard such an impressive piece of technology. Unless, of course, you believed the one freak in the universe who could make it work… was dead."

Donatello laughed then, a harsh, unforgiving sound that rattled Bishop to his core. Keeping his face impassive, Bishop took a step towards him. The comforting weight of the gun he had tucked away at his hip emboldened him. If he could keep the turtle distracted from him, he could get the drop on him.

Inside he was seething.

This couldn't be happening. Not to him, Special Agent John Bishop of the United States of America Federal Government.

"Donny, he's moving towards you," Leo whispered in hushed tones from his hiding place. "Carefully, now."

The oldest turtle hadn't missed the way Bishop's hand twitched towards the bulge on his side. He shook his head, frowning. He _really, REALLY_ didn't like guns. Where was the honor? Where was the skill? It took no courage to shoot someone down with a gun, from the safety of twenty paces away.

"Don, I think he's about to draw on you. Be ready to duck left. It'll be on his right side. Once you move, roll forward and move up four steps. Your path is clear. The gun will be just in range of your bo. On my mark."

Donny tensed up in preparation, but stood his ground, waiting his leader's word. He bared his teeth at Bishop, as he imagined Shredder would, and laughed again.

"You've been played from the very beginning, Bishop. I never had any intention of honoring our deal, as I know you never intended to honor it either."

"Honor this!" Bishop snapped, whipping the gun out and taking aim.

At the same time, Leo gave a hoarse "Now!" into Donny's ear. Donatello immediately ducked, trusting his brother on blind faith, and felt a surge of relief as he heard the loud, echoing report of a gunshot but felt no pain. He hadn't been hit. Following Leo's instructions, Don dropped to the ground as the gun went off again, rolling once, then he jumped to his feet before Bishop could get off another shot. Leaping forward four giant bounds, Don swung his bo staff with all his might and was rewarded with the sound of Bishop's pain-filled grunt as the gun fell to the ground.

"You shouldn't have tried that, Bishop," Donny snarled. He heard the government agent back up, and he swept his bo across the floor where he had heard the gun fall. The ugly metal weapon went spinning out of reach across the warehouse.

"I don't need a gun to kill you," Bishop said with a cool smile. "It only makes it _easier_."

Donny felt movement and instinctively swung the bo, as Bishop employed some fancy acrobatics to leap out of Donny's way and reach a stack of crates by which a tall, metal pole was leaning.

"Come on, then!" Bishop snarled, swinging the heavy thing. Donny couldn't see what it was, but he could hear it whistling through the air. He didn't need to be told that one good hit would leave him thoroughly incapacitated.

With a yell, Donny launched himself blindly forward, listening with all his might and feeling the air around him for his enemy. It was just like training with his brothers… feel, don't think. For the most intelligent of the turtles, this came harder for him than the others, but all four were more than able to fight blindfolded.

From his hiding place, Leo forced himself to keep quiet. His directions would only distract Donatello now. He had to have faith that his younger brother could do this. After all, they were _ninja…_ they had all sparred in the dark before. Master Splinter had always believed this was an invaluable skill, and of course he was right.

Usually, though, the dark meant that _neither_ opponent could see. Bishop had the advantage of his eyes. Leo shook his head. He couldn't offer a whole lot of help without being discovered, which would blow their cover and their game entirely, but he would do what he could to level the playing field.

Sneaking out with the silence only a ninja can harness, Leo crept from his hiding place, taking advantage of Bishop's total focus on his brother to reach the front wall by the door, where the light switch was.

With a grim smile on his face, Leo evened the odds with a flick of the switch.

Bishop held in a gasp as the warehouse went dark. What had happened? Blast, he couldn't see the turtle now! He knew that the helmet's camera was equipped with night vision, which meant Saki would be able to see him. Bishop squinted into the darkness, trying to pick out any sort of shape in the darkness, but he had closed the door behind him and the warehouse was black as pitch.

"Coward!" Bishop yelled into the darkness, trying to relax and let his advanced senses pick up on the turtle's location. A low, evil-sounding chuckle came from right behind his ear and he spun, swinging the huge metal bar ferociously, only to be met with empty air.

"You can't fool me, Bishop," he could hear the turtle say. "You were in league with those turtles all along, weren't you? They recruited you to try and stop me, didn't they?" He heard the chilling laugh again.

"That's not true!" Bishop yelled, turning red with anger at the thought of joining forces with those detestable turtles. From his vantage point, Leo smiled and shook his head. Donny was having way too much fun with his role. Not that Leo would begrudge him this chance to exact a small bit of revenge on the man who had tormented him so callously.

"I'm on to you, you can't fool me," Don repeated, circling Bishop in the dark. "You can't hide from me forever… you can't stop me. I _will_ take dominion over this world. This world has always been pathetic and weak. Even a _child_ from my planet could easily defeat it."

If either of the turtles could have seen the look on Bishop's face when he heard that, they would never have been able to keep themselves from laughing. Bishop made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as his mouth moved up and down, trying to remember how to form words. Even in spite of his proximity to a dangerous enemy, Bishop couldn't figure out how to make his muscles work. There was nothing that could goad the agent into moving, as his mind shut down to everything but those words.

A child from _his_ planet?

No. Just… no.

No, it was not possible. He was lying, of course. He had to be. This was… no.

This couldn't be true, it just couldn't be. Bishop _refused _to believe it. Donatello had been telling the _truth_? Bishop could still hear the turtle, chained down in the cold cell, speaking calmly..._ How can YOU possibly be working with the Shredder? You DO know he's an alien too, don't you?_

At the time, he had assumed that this was simply a ridiculous ruse to set himself and Saki against each other. Now, though…

"You're lying. You're not an alien. It's not possible," Bishop said coolly, deciding to call Saki's bluff and praying dearly that it _was_ one. Donatello just laughed, and Bishop could imagine the look on Saki's face on the other end of the wire.

"I'm lying? My dear Bishop, how on earth would you know? You've believed what I've made everyone on earth believe for a countless number of years… that I'm one of you pathetic humans. You believed it, just as you believed that I had actually killed Donatello. You wouldn't know truth from lies, Bishop, even when they're staring you in the face."

"Show yourself, you coward!" Bishop yelled, still trying to locate the turtle. "You're wrong… I _will_ stop you!"

"Now, Don!" Leo hissed. "Now!"

Donny smiled. Time to make his play.

"How?" he asked in his best sinister sounding voice. "By killing the turtle? No matter… I have more… and you're out of time."

Across the warehouse, Leo pushed the door open and hurriedly backed away in to the shadows, remaining unseen. Taking advantage of the faint, guiding light, Bishop turned and sprinted for the door. Saki was right. He was wasting time, fighting Donatello… killing him would not stop that… _alien_. By the time Donatello had pulled off the helmet, Bishop was already in his car, driving like mad for the second time that night towards the Foot Tower.

"So much for phase one," Leo muttered as the ninja took off full speed, following Bishop's warpath towards the Tower. As he ran, he pulled out his phone to contact Raph. Time to regroup for the second part of his plan.

* * *

_A review for the chappie makes the authoress happy..._


	17. Of Detonators and Decoys

_A/N: Guess what, readers/reviewers? This story has officially gotten more reviews than anything I've ever written! So, thanks for that! Go ahead… give yourself a pat on the back!_

_Scribe of Turesa: ^_^ Thanks! Glad you think so… Leo certainly did! _

_Sara: Heh, I can't feel sorry for Bishop cause he messed with my beloved Donny! But he sure is getting abused, lol. Donny really did have fun. LOTS of fun. And they're not finished yet, heeheehee…_

_Pig: LOL, everyone seems to agree that Donny probably enjoyed that whole scene. My response? Oh heck YES he did! HAHAHA! _

_WebMistressGina: Thank you, thank you… Leo is really a deviously minded turtle, when he sets his mind to it. He can come up with a doozy of a plan! _

_Mew Sakura: =D You weren't the only one. I think Don and Leo were snickering at Bishop the whole time (very discreetly of course, haha). _

_Thanks, of course, to the wonderful Mikell, and all that she had to put up with. Like me leaving her with a cliffhanger like THIS until I could figure out a suitable solution. Heh heh heh… _

_Oh boy, hold on tight. The next few chapters are gonna get epic. =D_

* * *

All through the Foot Tower, the ninja were on red alert, Class One, top priority, all-out Turtle Watch. Those Foot soldiers who were relatively new to the clan found themselves scurrying all over the place, trying to figure out what the big deal was, while older members geared themselves up for a full-scale war.

The more experienced fighters could feel the shift of balance in the air. They had fought the turtles in the past, and always lost. Even when they _won_, they had never killed a turtle before (though not from lack of trying; they simply had never managed…). They had never taken the fight so far beyond the thin line drawn by the terrapins. They had never been truly afraid that they were about to die, that they might not survive the coming fury.

Their ninja turtle enemies had strict codes of honor. All the Foot knew this, especially ones who had fought with them before. The turtles never killed. Sure, they'd knock the crap out of a ninja; even make it to where he might never fight again. Still, no Foot ninja had ever been slain by a turtle's hand, as of yet.

From the looks they had seen on the three remaining turtles' faces, this was about to change.

As ninja, trained under the harsh Master Shredder himself, there were very few things in the world that would scare – truly terrify – a Foot soldier.

As it turned out, a furious turtle, hell-bent on revenge, was one of them. And there would be _three_ there soon.

No one doubted that the turtles would show up. Their leader had sworn vengeance, and it had looked like the one in red was already out of his mind with rage. _No one_ wanted to be in his way, when he showed up.

So, the Tower that night was filled with paranoid ninja, roaming the halls, constantly looking over their shoulders, jumping at small noises, and swinging at anyone who accidentally came up behind them.

Even still, they managed to miss the helmeted turtle sneaking in until he was in the middle of the great room where Shredder was gearing up for battle.

oOo oOo oOo

Shredder had been expecting an attack to come, of course. It was a matter of honor, for the turtles; they would _have_ to avenge their brother. That was just fine with Shredder. _Let_ them come; he was prepared for them. He had his main office covered, in case they tried to sneak in. He had the front doors guarded, in case they abandoned all sense of secrecy in their emotional state. He was ready for almost anything.

What he _wasn't_ prepared for was to see the turtle he had _already_ killed standing in his hall with Bishop's helmet on his head.

Sparing the government agent had been a mistake; this much was plain. However he had managed to bring the turtle back to life was unimportant; all that mattered was fixing the situation.

The turtle had his traditional wooden bo strapped to his back and a duffel bag across his shoulders. He had walked right into the room, a little stiffly, before the Foot ninja had sent up the alarm.

Shredder had recovered from the shock as quickly and gracefully as possible, preferring to let the mysteries remain mysteries in exchange for a quick kill. Bishop would expect him to ask questions; he planned only on getting rid of this upstart.

"Don't be a fool, Bishop," Shredder snorted, before Bishop had time to make the turtle speak for him. He stepped forward, the light glistening off the spiked gauntlet that he wore. He smiled in anticipation, though it was lost behind his helmet.

"You couldn't even fight my ninja without knocking yourself out with your own weapons. You think that giving Donatello his usual weapon will do you any good? You are no match for me."

Still, the turtle didn't draw his weapon, but stood in the middle of the room, as though awaiting directions. Finally, he spoke, sounding as confident and arrogant as ever.

"I don't need a weapon at all. Let ninja play with their swords and sticks. We do things differently in the government."

Mechanically, the turtle opened the bag that sat across his shoulders. The surrounding Foot ninja watched cautiously, ready to swarm in at the merest glance from their master. However, they were quickly dissuaded from moving at all by the tiny device that the turtle brought forth.

They couldn't quite see what it was, but it was small, round, and _ticking_, leaving little doubt as to its overall purpose.

"Everyone stay right where you are," the turtle said, cold as a New York snowfall. "There's enough explosive power in here to blow the entire Tower and half the street around it." His helmeted face swiveled to take in the crowd of ninja before turning to point directly at Shredder.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance," he intoned, holding the detonator out threateningly.

Shredder laughed, but didn't move. He wasn't buying it… Bishop was surely bluffing. The government agent wasn't suicidal, after all. On the other hand… Shredder frowned. Blowing them all up wouldn't hurt Bishop at all, would it? Only the turtle would be killed. Still, it was surely a bluff.

"You would throw away all your plans just to kill me?" he pointed out skeptically. "That helmet only works on one turtle… if you blow him up with me and my ninja, it will all have been for nothing. I don't believe you'll actually do it."

"A good point, except for that _this_ was the plan all along, Saki…" the turtle said, a grotesque grin forced onto his face. "Destroying you."

Shredder's eyes narrowed. Before he could think of a good reply, his attention was swiftly attracted to the commotion coming from outside the room.

"Saki!"

Shredder and all the ninja spun as the doors were slammed against the wall with great force and Agent Bishop came stomping in, looking furious.

"Saki!" Bishop thundered again. "You've gone too far! I will NOT let you get away with this! I was a fool to buy your lies, but believe me when I say, I won't be making that mistake again!"

Shredder crossed his arms over his chest. Unbelievable. The _nerve_ of this pesky agent. To arrogantly walk right into the Tower that he had threatened to blow up? With the turtle right there? Oh, this was rich. Shredder would bet anything that next Bishop would try denying any involvement with this.

"And exactly _what_ lies are you not going to believe?" he sneered. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you where you stand for _your_ treachery?"

"_My _treachery?" Bishop laughed. "You've already _tried_ to kill me, but it didn't work, remember? And you know exactly what lies I mean… you… you… _alien_!"

In spite of himself, Shredder was lost for words. There was no bluff on the agent's face… somehow; he had actually figured it out. Unbelievable. _How_ had he managed that?! Shredder had taken every precaution! _Nobody_ knew his secret, other than those loyal to him. And, of course, the turtles… but they couldn't prove it. Even if they had told Bishop, the agent would have no reason to believe them.

No point in denying it, though… Bishop knew already. Better to find out where the leak in information had come from.

"How did you find out?"

"What do you _mean_, how did I find out?" Bishop exploded. Shredder hadn't expected it to be such a difficult question, but now it seemed as though Bishop was the one with nothing to say. "What… how the hell do you_ think_ I found out?"

"If I knew," Shredder said coolly, "I can assure you, I would not waste my time asking. _Who_ told you?"

"_YOU _did!"

"_I_ told you?" Shredder asked in disbelief. What exactly did this government lackey think he was going to accomplish with this absurdity?

"Yes! Remember? When you sent the turtle to kill me? Or has all of this somehow slipped from your disgusting, alien mind?"

Shredder still couldn't figure out what plan might be in Bishop's head to bring about this ridiculous line of conversation. He didn't like being toyed with. Shredder shook his metal head. The audacity of this man was truly astounding.

"The turtle?" he repeated waspishly. Stepping to the side, Shredder gestured at the turtle behind him, standing stock still in the middle of the room, since he was obviously not being given orders at the moment. "You mean, _this_ turtle?"

"Yes, that's the-"

"The one _you_ sent here to kill _me_?"

"_What_? You're the one who told me he was dead! How could I have possibly…" Bishop suddenly trailed off, finally getting a look at the turtle behind Shredder. "Wait just a minute…"

Bishop squinted at the unmoving turtle. Something was fishy, here. Something about the scene just wasn't quite right. Donatello shouldn't have been able to get there ahead of him. _Someone_ was playing him for a fool, but by now he wasn't sure who exactly it was.

"Donatello _was_ dead!" Shredder argued, pressing on with his attempt to figure out what was happening. "I saw him. How could you have saved him? And how did you get to him, when you were nowhere near the fight? Did the turtles take him to you? Did they try to make a deal?"

The more Shredder thought about it, the more sense it made to him. "They did, didn't they? They agreed to help you bring me down if you could revive their brother! Do they know that you've forced him in here with a bomb, or have you double-crossed them, too? Yes, of course you would."

Bishop was no longer listening. He had been studying the turtle closely… for the most part it hadn't moved a bit, but in the middle of Saki's tirade, he could see the smallest of twitches in the corner of its mouth, as though it was trying not to smile. And perhaps it was the bad lighting, but was his skin suddenly a different shade of green? Several pieces of the puzzle clicked together simultaneously.

"Saki, you fool! You've been tricked! Are you blind?" Bishop strode forward and grabbed the turtle by the arm. He plucked the ticking device out of his hand, then yanked him forward so that he stumbled and fell down to his knees.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shredder demanded. "You send Donatello in here under your control, with the intent to blow up my Tower, and dare to call _me_ a fool? "

It took all of Bishop's iron self-control not to stomp the ground furiously. "This isn't Donatello, Saki! How can you not see that? And I _told_ you, the helmet only works on _him_, so he is obviously _not_ under my control! _This is not Donatello!_"

He ripped the device off of the turtle's head violently. Two orange bandana tails fluttered down from where they had been tucked up into the helmet.

"Heh heh… hey, dudes!" From his spot on the floor in the middle of the Foot Tower, grinning absurdly up at the two most dangerous men in New York City, was Michelangelo.

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_Review?_


	18. Of Masks and Mayhem

___A/N: Wow… only a couple chapters left. I'm so sad… but thanks for everyone who's been reading!_

_Mew Sakura: __I know, Mikey has an interesting way of dealing with a situation, LOL! Here's more for you!_

_pig: Heh.... Raph... keep his cool... that's funny, LOL! Yeah, definitely had to be Mikey. Besides, Leo promised him a good part to play in this plan. =D_

_Yeah, when Leo make__s a plan, Leo makes a PLAN. Prepare yourselves, dear readers. Confusion ensues… try to keep up! Remember… nothing… is ever… what it seems._

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It was a curious power, Raph reflected, that Mikey had over the world. He always managed to bring out the "stupid" in people. Take himself, for example. Normally, Raph was a tough, unemotional sort of turtle. He didn't get bogged down with other people's feelings, or show too many of his own. When Mikey was down though, Raph found vast, hidden quantities of sentimentality that made him want to help his youngest brother feel better in any way possible. Even if he had to do something stupid, like giving him a hug or telling him a bad joke. Or, move in to back Mikey up even though Leo said to wait.

Take Donatello. Donny was a genius; they all knew that. He knew more than the rest of them combined, and had words for things that Raph didn't know existed. Give Mikey enough time to thoroughly exasperate him though, and even the super-smart Donatello was reduced to a spluttering idiot, babbling incoherently with nothing intelligent at all to say. Mikey could make words fail the turtle who knew all the words.

Take Leonardo. Leo made plans carefully. And then he made plans to cover anything that would go wrong with those plan, and a back-up plan for each and every one of _those_ plans, and then a contingency plan for if everything got shot to shell. Leo never made rash moves, but for some reason he had seen fit to send Mikey right into the heart of everything with nothing but a stick and a fake helmet to fight off their two worst enemies and an army of trained ninja. Because Mikey said "he could do it." If _that_ wasn't the stupidest plan ever…

Now take their enemies. Both Shredder and Bishop were men (or aliens) of action. They were always doing something evil and underhanded, and they were competent at it. They were always in control. They always knew how to be the worst of themselves. And yet, now they were staring at his brother, incapable of movement or rational thought in their advanced state of confusion. Mikey had single-handedly brought them to utter, hopeless, uselessness. Just by… being there. His mere _presence_ was apparently enough to make the world go stupid.

It was actually awe-inspiring.

Before the turtles had split into their separate groups to fulfill their respective missions, Donatello had replicated the mind-controlling device out of Raph's bike helmet and some spare parts. This one, of course, had a fake screen over the eyes so that Mikey would still be able to see on his own. Otherwise, Don declared it a perfect mock-up of the helmet used on him, down to the mini-camera imbedded inside so that Raph could keep an eye on his brother from his portable view screen.

Raph was gonna take his word for it… After all, Donny had every detail of the blasted thing haunting him.

So now, Mikey was sitting quite calmly on the floor, grinning like a buffoon at his enemies who had managed to stop fighting long enough to stand there, staring and drooling like the morons they were, at a loss for words.

So curious, this power that Mikey had.

For instance, _why_ was Raph still sitting there waiting on Leo?! Mikey needed him, and Fearless was saying to sit still and watch? He picked up the phone in angrily. Enough of this.

"Leo, I'm goin' in," the red-banded turtle informed the leader tersely as soon as Leo picked up. He could faintly hear the wind rushing by Leo as he ran. Back up was coming, but it might be too late by then.

"Raph, no!" Leo yelled. "Will you just _wait_ for-"

"No, Leo!" Raph snarled back. "I ain't waitin' for anything! Mikey's in trouble!"

"Remember what Master Splinter said, Raph? We have to trust that Mike and Don can handle themselves. I gave him this job on purpose-"

"What purpose? To get him killed? Screw this."

"Raph! Raph, no! _WAIT-_"

With a click, Raph hung up, tucking the phone away. Shaking his head in annoyance, he stood from his hiding place, clutched his trench coat more tightly around him, and headed for the Tower.

oOo oOo oOo

"What are _you_ doing here?" Shredder finally demanded, staring at Michelangelo in disbelief. He ignored Bishop's superior huffs from beside him. "Where is your brother, Donatello?"

The orange-banded turtle's face immediately turned from one of amusement to one of abject grief. He growled ferociously, causing a few of the Foot ninja to take a step backward as Mikey moved to a crouching position, looking ready to pounce at any moment on his enemies.

"Where do you _think_ he is, you scumbag!" he yelled. "You _killed_ him, or had you forgotten?!"

Ignoring the murderous glare from the turtle, Shredder turned smugly to Bishop. "There, you see?" he said haughtily. "Like I said… Donatello is dead after all."

"Then who was at my warehouse tonight, Saki?" Bishop demanded. "These turtles are up to something!"

"No doubt," Shredder agreed, his hands curling into fists. "And I'm quite sure that _you_ are responsible for it!" He ignored the agent's offended grunt, gesturing at Michelangelo. "Sending him in ahead of you was just a ploy to throw me off-balance. How else would you have known it was the orange turtle and not the purple, if _you_ did not send him here?"

"Because he doesn't even _look_ like Donatello," Bishop exclaimed in exasperation. Really, how had he ever believed that this man – no, alien – was ever in the slightest bit intelligent? "I'm telling you, there's something else going on—"

Shredder held up a hand, cutting him off. The bright red eyes behind the helmet narrowed at Bishop, and the alien took a step back towards Michelangelo.

"I don't believe you," Shredder explained, smiling evilly. "But if the turtles _aren't_ working for you, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I dispose of this one."

"Be my guest," Bishop returned, crossing his arms. "He's _not_ with me."

Mikey gulped as Shredder turned on him. Where was his back-up? Any time they chose to arrive would be really quite wonderful…

"Shredder!"

The orange-banded turtle sighed with relief as his brother burst into the room right on cue. Both of the turtles' arch-nemeses spun around as the other turtle ran towards them. He had on a long, brown trench-coat that streamed behind him like a banner, and a hat pulled low over his face. The red bandana tails left little doubt that he would kill them where they stood.

"Get away from my brother!" he snarled, drawing his sai and leaping towards them. Shredder and Bishop simultaneously took a step back, both knowing the red turtle's penchant for violent defensiveness of his brothers.

The turtle landed lightly, crouching in front of Mikey protectively as he flashed his pointed weapons dangerously at them. Shredder recovered from his surprise quickly, raising a hand to signal his waiting ninja to attack.

Before he could speak, the door was opened once again and yet another turtle came hurrying in breathlessly, dressed, as the other one was, in a trench-coat and hat. He stopped short as he took in the scene before him. Eyes widened behind a blue mask, and to the shock of everyone present, the turtle spun and bolted back to the door.

"DON, PLAN B! RUN FOR IT! GET OUT!" he shouted frantically.

"GET THEM!" Shredder roared at the same time. The surrounding Foot ninja sprang into action, half of them chasing after the blue-banded turtle as he ran from the room. The other half moved in on the orange and the red-banded turtles who turned shell to shell to fight them off.

Bishop stood to the side, watching events unfold with a mistrusting eye. There was still something fishy here. Taking advantage of his enemies' current engagements, the agent took a moment to examine the bomb he had taken from Michelangelo. It was real enough, he could easily see. Something, though… something wasn't ringing true. He had practically written the book on double-crosses, and he could smell one happening now.

A yell of pain brought his attention back to the skirmish taking place beside him. A group of the Foot ninja had managed to pin Michelangelo down and take his weapon, while Saki had the red-banded turtle in a death grip, choking him.

"No!" Michelangelo cried from the floor. "Let him go!"

Obligingly, Shredder threw the turtle to the floor, where he was immediately overrun by the remaining Foot ninja, who held him firmly down. The ninja turtle struggled violently, but there were too many hands restraining him. Bishop frowned again as he caught the thrashing turtle's eye, staring right at him. What was wrong here?

The answer was just within reach of his mind when his musings were interrupted by a score of Foot ninja dragging in another fighting turtle. He was also clad in the same trench-coat and hat as the others. Bishop heaved a sigh of relief as he noticed the purple tails. So he wasn't crazy after all; it HAD been Donatello he'd seen earlier! The purple-banded turtle suddenly snapped his head up, staring Bishop straight in the eye.

Bishop blinked, and glanced back and forth between this turtle and the ones already captured. He sighed, rubbing his temples as he suddenly realized why everything seemed so… off. Unbelievable. Truly, it was unbelievable.

"What of the blue one, Leonardo?" Shredder demanded. One of the Foot ninja threw a hasty salute before returning his grip on the bucking turtle.

"We couldn't reach him, Master," the soldier admitted. "This one was blocking off our pursuit, and by the time we took him down, there was no sight of the other turtle."

Shredder growled in annoyance, gesturing at the other two turtles. "Put him with the others," he commanded. "So… you seem to have made a most miraculous recovery, Donatello." Behind him, Shredder could hear Bishop muttering in exasperation. He turned on his former partner with no small amount of irritation as the Foot soldiers dragged the third turtle to where the other two were being held down.

"Yes, Agent Bishop? You have something to say? Perhaps now you will try to talk me out of killing your friends here?"

"They're no friends of mine," Bishop retorted uncaringly. "But you still have a turtle unaccounted for."

"Leonardo will come for his brothers, never fear."

"Leonardo is _already_ here, you stupid worm!" Bishop snapped. "_This_ is Leonardo!" Shoving his way through the ninja guards to the red-banded turtle, he viciously jerked the hat and trench coat off. Shredder stared long and hard at the turtle, who smiled mockingly back at him. Sure enough, this was not Raphael. The large coat had hidden the fact that this turtle was nowhere near the same muscular body shape of his angrier brother.

"And _this_," Bishop continued, stalking over to the purple-banded turtle, "is Raphael!" He pulled off the turtle's hat, as he had done to Leonardo. Raphael grinned ferociously, growling and baring his teeth. "In fact, _Donatello_ is the _only_ one who hasn't yet managed to convince you that he is, in fact, Donatello," the agent added, sneering.

"Well, ain't he a clever one!" Raph said with a chuckle. "Read my mind, Bishop…tell me what I'm thinkin' now! I'll give ya a hint… it starts with an 'f' and ends with-"

"Watch your mouth, Raph," Leo admonished automatically, eyes flashing from behind the red mask. He was still annoyed with his brother for disregarding his orders… if he hadn't gotten there just before Raph made it into the building, the hot-headed turtle would have rushed in and all their work would have been for nothing. He'd only just managed to stop Raph long enough for them to exchange masks and move in as per the plan. "There's no need for that sort of language."

"Enough!" Shredder hissed, slamming the spikes of his gauntlet into the wall only inches from Leonardo's head, causing the turtle to snap his attention back to the huge, metal-clad alien. Shredder jerked his gauntlet free and held the tips directly under Leo's chin.

"Where… is… Donatello?"

"Somewhere _you_ won't be able to hurt him anymore," Leo answered defiantly. "You were there, you saw what happened."

"Do not seek to deceive me, turtle," Shredder spat out. "I see through your game. You are wearing a red mask… Raphael has a purple one… I _SAW_ a turtle enter here with a blue mask on, so I _know_ he was here. You faked Donatello's death so that he could enter unsuspected to destroy me while _you_ three kept my attention."

Shredder laughed sinisterly, shaking his head. No one got the better of Oroku Saki, the one true Shredder, for long. "Let's try it this way," he suggested lazily. "Tell me where Donatello is… or your brother dies."

Leo watched in horror as Shredder moved the lethal gauntlet away from his face and swung it instead to touch Mikey's. _This_ had never been part of the plan…

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_Reviews are like chocolate, only cheaper._


	19. Of Alliances and Endings

_A/N: Geez guys.. this has been such a fantastic ride, but we're approaching the end! There's just this left, and then the epilogue. O.O I can't even begin to thank you all enough for your support, especially Mikell (AKA oh most fantastic beta…)._

_Pig: There IS just a little more to be revealed… and here it is! (And of course Leo has to censor Raph's language, it's what big brothers do, lol!)_

_WebMistressGina: LOL! Well thanks. If all anyone can say is that this is excellent, I must be doing something right! ;)_

_Mew Sakura: Bishop? Go crazy? Well, not exactly… but close! Keep reading to find out!_

_xtheamazingnothingx: Yikes, snowed in? Stay warm, wherever you are! But, I'm glad you ran across this story, even if it's later in the game! I hope you enjoy the last bit here, too!_

_This is by far the longest chapter. I won't keep you from it. Without further ado, I give you the culmination of Leo's [rather ingenius] plans:_

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Mikey gulped as the cold metal pricked his chin, leaving two drops of blood. Leo had explained his role to him very carefully… he definitely didn't remember this part being included. Mikey would have loved to turn to Leo to see what he had planned in this event, but he was scared that if he moved his head, it might be inadvertently removed.

Boy, would _that_ ever suck.

"I'm waiting," Shredder snarled, digging the spikes a little harder in. Mikey squeaked in discomfort, trying to shift away from his enemy, nearly going cross-eyed while trying to keep an eye on the gauntlet.

Leo's mind was racing; Shredder wasn't following his script. The eldest turtle couldn't very well tell him the truth _now_. Leo had been counting on Bishop and Shredder arguing just a few more minutes to give Donny time to finish his last part of the job. Unfortunately, Bishop wasn't helping at all… they must have shaken his resolve more than Leo had anticipated. He had really thought the agent was made of tougher stuff, but at the moment he didn't seem as interested in fighting the Shredder as Leo had thought he would be. They had probably pushed him too far into the realm of utter disorientation.

That would be the _last_ time any of his plans counted on an _enemy_ to make things work out.

"Fine," Shredder said calmly, growing impatient. He pulled his hand back in preparation to strike and Mikey squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Leo opened his mouth with an impromptu back up plan, but Raph moved first.

"Wait!" Raph yelled. He lunged forward, only to be pulled back again by the Foot ninja, but it succeeded in stopping Shredder's hand. His brothers might kill him later, but he wasn't going to let Shredder murder Mikey right there in front of them. "Wait, you're right… Don ain't dead. You're right, ok? Leave 'im alone."

"Where _is_ he?" Shredder jerked his hand, leaving two parallel cuts and Mikey squeaked again, feel the tiny blood drops tickle down his neck.

"_First_ off, if ya do _that_ again," Raph snarled, his eyes promising death. "I'm gonna tear your arms off an' beat ya to death with 'em. I'm _tellin'_ you where he is, so _leggo_ o' Mikey!"

Shredder pulled his hand back ever so slightly as Leo shot a furious glare at his brother.

"Raphael!" he growled, shaking his head in warning. What was he _doing_?!

"Raphie, don't!" Mikey pleaded, his eyes still closed in trepidation. Dying didn't sound like a good option, but neither did failing their mission now that they were so close to its resolution.

With an apologetic look at his brothers, Raph gestured to the door. "He... he's downstairs… in da basements. The plan was to wire da foundations to blow, an' bring da whole Tower down. But you ain't gonna be able to find 'im in time, anyway. You ain't got _near _enough ninja to cover dat much area."

Shredder smiled, pleased, and reluctantly stepped away from Michelangelo. Finally, they were getting somewhere. These turtles were so weak; threaten any one of them and the rest caved right away. "We'll see about that," he said softly. He turned to his soldiers. "Foot ninja! Go find the last turtle and bring him here! Hurry!"

"Raph…" Mikey sighed softly as the majority of the ninja army, save for the few that were restraining the three turtles, immediately vanished out of the room as silent as shadows. "Why did you do that?"

"_Someone_ had to say somethin'… Mikey, I couldn' let 'im… I had to tell 'im," Raph muttered, not looking at either of his brothers.

Leo just shook his head, biting his tongue for the time being. He could only hope that Donny would _hurry_ with his job so they could get to the final stage of the plan before it was too late.

"This all could have been avoided had you simply held on to the turtle," Shredder informed Bishop coldly. Agent Bishop, who was still contemplating the tiny ticking instrument that Mikey had been carrying, looked up in irritation.

"All of this could have been _avoided_," he snapped, "if you weren't a disgusting freak of nature from another planet."

Leo sighed, rolling his eye as the two squared off. _Now_ Bishop decided to get his gumption up!? Two minutes ago would have been so much more suitable for his plans. A beeping sound from his shell cell suddenly filled the room, interrupting the argument. No one moved as the jangling ringtone echoed off the walls. Shredder and Bishop both stared hard at the turtle, who cleared his throat uncomfortably and glanced around as though wondering where the sound was coming from.

"Aren't you going to answer that, Leonardo?" Bishop asked coolly. "I imagine that's your brother, Donatello, calling for help. Why don't you ask him to join us?"

"_I _will give the orders, Bishop," Shredder spat out. "Go ahead, turtle. Answer that. We're waiting."

The Foot ninja holding on to one of Leo's arms let go to allow him to move. With a shrug, Leo pulled his phone out and flipped it open. Two words flashed across the screen and he grinned with relief, closing the phone again and putting it away. He winked at Mikey and Raph, nodding slightly.

"Good news, turtle?" Bishop sneered.

"Yes, actually. That _was_ Donatello… he's across town, and he just finished blowing up your lab," Leo answered calmly. "He stayed behind to finish things up there. Oh, and he wanted me to tell you," the turtle continued, "that you _really_ should _NOT_ have destroyed his van. Donny didn't… _appreciate_ that very much."

Bishop's face turned pale-white. He shook his head in denial, refusing to believe the words. Nothing the turtles had said or done so far that evening had been true, so why should this be? If it _was_ true… but of course, it wasn't. It couldn't be.

"You're bluffing again," Bishop announced, managing to keep the quavering out of his voice. "Why should I believe _anything_ you say? You blasted turtles have lied and tricked your way this far. We all saw him run in here with a blue mask on."

"Yeah, that _coulda_ been Donny… either dat, or _I _had the blue mask," Raph said with mock thoughtfulness, "and changed to this one before da Foot caught up wit' me. Though I s'pose I was in an' out too quick for ya to get a good look. Which was kinda the point."

"You don't have to take our word for it," Leo pointed out. "Go see for yourself." He nodded in the direction of a door on the side wall that led to an outdoor balcony. Still glaring at him, Bishop hurried to the balcony door and tugged it open. He rushed to the railing, leaning against it and squinting in the direction of the warehouse. Sure enough, a huge plume of smoke was just visible, going up in the distance.

The government agent managed somehow to walk back inside and shut the door, a horrible, dizzying feeling of failure settling over him like a funeral shroud. He turned to Saki, almost in a dreamlike state.

"You… you… _you said he was dead_!" Bishop yelled accusingly.

"No, _I _said he was downstairs," Shredder snapped, without the slightest trace of pity for the agent's predicament. He pointed a metal-encased hand at Leonardo. "_He_ said he was dead."

"No, _Raph_ said he was downstairs. _I_ said he was somewhere safe from you," Leo corrected with a shrug.

"_I _said he was dead, though," Mikey piped up helpfully, an innocent smile alighting his cheerful face. Shredder spun on them and all three turtles could feel the rage rolling off of him in ferocious waves of energy.

"I don't care _who_ said _what_, or who _is_ or is _not_ dead," Shredder seethed. "Soon you will _all_ be dead, and none of this nonsense will matter."

"Yeah, yeah. Can we just skip to the end here, Saki?" Raph spoke up. He was sitting back in a completely relaxed position. Shredder stared at him. Why wasn't the turtle trembling in fear of his imminent death?

"You've got all the witnesses out... you're welcome for that, by the way," Raph continued. He gestured at the Foot soldiers who had remained behind to guard them. "The trustworthy ninja are still here. Enough with the charade." He turned to smile wickedly at Bishop. "I don't think we ever really had Agent Bishop here fooled. Let's just move on… get rid of him now, so we can go ahead and start with our plan for world domination!"

The entire evening had been one of confusion and bewilderment for Shredder, but that was the point where his world lost all semblance of sanity. _What_ was the infernal terrapin _talking _about!? _OUR _plan? He was slowly coming to realize that this particular turtle was the insane one of the four, but this was ridiculous! And what was worse, from the look on John Bishop's face, the government agent was actually swallowing it.

"So!" Bishop roared, his eyes bulging crazily. "It's true, then! I was right about you and the turtles from the beginning!"

"Don't be a fool!" Shredder snapped. "Can't you see what he's trying to do?"

"Oh, give it a rest, dude," Mikey chuckled, also looking as untroubled as could be. "I'm telling you, Bishop had us all figured out the whole time! We always knew we might not be able to trick him, remember us telling you that?"

"Yeah, Bishop turned out to be smarter than we gave him credit for," Leo added. "I mean, he noticed right off that we weren't wearing the right colors tonight. I bet he also noticed how we all managed to miraculously escape the _one_ time that _you_ were controlling Don instead of him."

"And even the _Elite_ guard couldn't capture us, but Bishop did it practically single-handedly?" Mikey pointed out. "Come on, we probably should have let the Foot get Donny… that was way too obvious of us."

"And don't forget, it was Shredder who knocked Bishop out before he could shoot Leo," Raph lied without a drop of remorse, watching smugly as Bishop's face went rapidly from white to green to red as he switched from incredulousness to nausea to raw fury. "You know he hadta seen through all o' that. Just kill 'im and be done with it."

"They're lying!" Shredder protested, crouching into a fighting stance as Bishop balled his fists and did the same. Bishop shook his head, clearly beyond the reasoning stage.

"I told you I would stop you," the agent growled. "_All_ of you freaks… you, _and_ your turtle friends!"

"Ninja, _attack_!" Shredder yelled. It only took him a few fractions of a second to remember that most of his ninja were down below… searching for the only remaining turtle. Who, as it turned out, was nowhere near the Tower anyway. With a growl of frustration, he leapt forward himself, exchanging blows and kicks with the agile Agent Bishop.

"You heard him!" Mikey yelled at the ninjas who were holding him down. "Hurry! Help our Master before the evil government spy kills him!"

The Foot hesitated, not sure what was going on. It seemed... _wrong_ somehow for them to listen to the turtles… weren't they enemies? Had… had they _ever_ been? And if they were partners with their master now, when had _that_ happened? Whose side was who _on_, anyway? Fortunately, the role of a Foot ninja was to follow orders, not to rationalize them... therefore they felt no guilt in letting go of the turtles to join in the fight.

It was a mark of Agent Bishop's considerable skill, that he could hold his own against Shredder _and_ the tiny gang of Foot ninja. He ducked and jumped, avoiding their strikes while delivering his own with deadly accuracy. At least half of the ninja who had joined in the melee were already slumped down on the floor, unmoving.

The three turtles sat where they had been left, simply watching the spectacle unfold with rapt enjoyment. Nobody was paying even the slightest bit of attention to them whatsoever.

"Can we switch masks back yet, Leo?" Raph grumbled. "Red really ain't your color."

Leo grinned, removing his younger brother's mask and holding it out to him. Raph took the blue mask back out of the pouch on his belt where he'd stashed it earlier and handed it back to Leo. Mikey smiled, taking Don's mask from Raph and tossing it down to the floor.

"Let 'em keep it as a souvenir," he suggested. "As a reminder for what happens to those who assume Donny's _anything_ like a nice, easy target…"

"By the way, Raph… Nice improvising," Leo said dryly. "Geez, I thought for a second there that you were actually going to tell Shredder what Don was doing. That was a great cover, though... I couldn't have done better myself! And then pretending we were with Shredder... man that was a stroke of genius!"

"I thought da whole idea was to let Bishop know where Donny was," Raph pointed out, wincing happily as a Foot ninja was biffed in the head by Bishop's right hook. "Ya know, so he could try an' leave, an' Shredder was gonna stop him, and dey were gonna fight? Ain't that what you said? What happened wit' that?"

"Well, that _was_ the plan," Leo admitted. "But Bishop and Shredder didn't really stick to it. Anyway, you _did_ get most of the Foot ninja out of the room… and it bought enough time for Don to finish up."

"Yeah, saved _my_ shell, too!" Mikey exclaimed with a grin. "Donny sure took his time with that warehouse!"

"It's not just a matter of setting some explosives and blowing it up, Mikey," Leo pointed out. "He had to make sure it would _only_ get rid of that one warehouse, not any of the others around it. Besides, he said there was some stuff in there worth taking a look through and taking back for ourselves."

Leo checked his watch as the fight between their enemies raged on unheeded in the background. "Oh. Guys, we should be getting out of here." He stood, pulling the other two with him. Neither Bishop nor Shredder nor the Foot ninja even noticed as the turtles casually picked up their confiscated weapons and headed for the door.

"But, Leo!" Raph complained, dragging his feet. "I wanna see those two kick each other's a–"

"Butts," Leo finished, glancing at his watch again nervously. "Yes, I know you do. And as much fun as that sounds, you're just going to have to trust me when I say, we _really_ need to get out of here."

Heaving a dejected sigh, Raph picked up the pace. The three turtles ran swiftly through the silent building… it was completely devoid of guards, as the majority of them were still on a wild goose chase in the bowels of the Tower, and the rest were thoroughly caught up in the fight with Agent Bishop. It took only about a minute for the trio to reach a convenient exit into a back alley – the same they had used to get Donatello safely out the other night. Confident that the coast would remain clear for quite some time, the turtles headed quickly for the rendezvous point a few blocks down.

"How long d'ya think it'll take them to notice we're gone?" Mikey asked with a grin. He leapt agilely up in the air, wall jumping between two buildings and landing softly on the rooftop. The other two followed right behind and they stood looking in the direction of the Tower. Raph snorted and shook his head.

"Probably not for another good half hour, if they keep fightin' da way they were," he said.

"I don't think they _have_ another half hour," a voice said from behind them. The three turtles turned as Donatello emerged from the shadows, grinning eagerly. "Hey guys, glad to see you all got out! Hey, Leo, I rescued some _great_ stuff out of that building! We'll be able to-"

"_Why_ don't they have another half hour?" Raph interrupted, suspicious suddenly that there was another part of the plan that he had not been privy to. Donny shrugged and looked at his watch, as Leo had done.

"Because that bomb that Mikey had is set to blow in about five minutes. That is, unless Bishop finds the button to set it off sooner, of course."

Both Mikey and Raph froze, turning to Leo who shrugged innocently.

"B…bomb? Like… real bomb? As in… _boom_?" Mikey stuttered, for once being the one at a loss for words.

Raph shook his head, trying to make sense of things. "You… you gave Mikey… you mean, dat t'ing… what, it was _real_? You gave _Mikey_ a _REAL_ bomb? What da _shell_, Leo? I thought it was _FAKE!_"

"Contingency plan," Leo said matter-of-factly. "If everything went wrong. But I'm betting on Bishop hitting the button any sec-"

He was interrupted by the sudden explosion, the largest of any so far. The rooftop that they were on, even a few blocks away, was shaken by the blast of the detonator in the heart of the Foot Tower. The turtles could only stare, wide-eyed, as the huge building slowly sank in on itself in a series of louder and louder crashes, until the uppermost tip of the once-proud Tower collapsed with a deafening boom.

"Well…" Donny said, blinking in awe at their handiwork. "Looks like he found the button…"

"Why is it," Mikey wondered aloud as they watched the smoke in satisfied fascination, "that everywhere we go, things seem to keep blowing up?"

* * *

_Review and stick around for the epilogue! =D_


	20. Epilogue

_WebMistressGina: Heh, I know I took an insane amount of pleasure in keeping everyone confused and on their toes… so I'm glad you appreciated that instead of getting annoyed, LOL. Thanks so much for the wowzers!_

_Starfire201: ROFL… I never kid about explosions… they're fuuuuun! _

_Pig: Yup, this is it. Plotting is just about as much fun as exploding things…_

_Cat488: Thanks! Here's the epilogue, as promised! ;)_

_Mew Sakura: I do like the awesome… and here's the final update._

_Sara: I'm so glad to hear you were laughing through the last chapter! There's nothing I enjoy more than making people laugh. Thanks for all the reviews you've left me, dear! You should spend the every-other-day you have free now writing something yourself! But you'll have to let me know if you ever do, since I don't know your penname. Happy reading!_

_Author's note also included at bottom. _

* * *

"Looks like you're in trouble, dude," Mikey commented the next day, eyeing the board with a grin. Leo glared at him, while Donny continued to stare down at the chess pieces. Mikey was right… Leo was in trouble for once, and for Donatello, this was incredibly satisfying. Somehow, Donny had managed to fork Leo's queen and bishop… and Leo had completely overlooked it, missing the chance to move either one to safety.

"Hush, Mikey," Leo snapped crossly. Donny grinned.

"Don't get mad at him because you made a mistake," he said, electing to take the queen, a more valuable piece. "It's a nice change for _me_ to have the upper hand every now and then."

Instead of looking upset though, Leo started smirking instead.

"Oh, I was _really_ hoping you would take the queen, because this wouldn't have worked otherwise," he said. Don groaned as Leo took advantage of the knight's relocation to attack Donny's king with his rook. "Checkmate."

"You're kidding, right?" Donatello sighed. "Leo, you're the only one in the world who can actually _bluff_ at _chess_. Can't I win, just once?"

"Just because I let you and Mikey take the lead roles in a plan doesn't mean I'm going to start letting you win when we play chess," Leo said, rolling his eyes. "And don't get used to _that_ either… I'm never going to make a plan like _that_ again."

"I liked yer plan dis time," Raph snorted. "Ya finally stopped worryin' about strategy and just _did_ somet'ing without thinkin' too much! I'm proud of ya, Leo! Why ain't we never had our enemies jus' kill each other off before? Makes our job so much easier…"

"Hate to disappoint you, Raph," Leo sighed. "That _was_ strategy. The whole thing, other than Shredder re-routing us for a bit. Even then, we jumped right back on track without too much trouble. Did you really think I'd lead you in there without knowing… for the most part… what was going to happen?"

"Whatevah, Leo! Ya couldna really counted on any of dat! Bishop mighta killed you an' Donny right there at the warehouse."

"Nah, he figured that killing Donatello was just wasting his time, since Shredder was controlling him. Once he found out what Shredder was, he couldn't get to him fast enough… before he could use the helmet to start taking over the world. And I counted on him being able to tell us apart, adding to the confusion of whether Don was there or not. And, of course, that left Donny free to blow up the lab, which made Bishop get suspicious of Shredder again, which made him easy to convince that Shredder had anything to do with it, which made them start fighting each other, which gave us the perfect chance to get away."

"And Bishop blowin' up the building, wit' himself still _in_ it? Come on, Leo. You couldn't have expected _that_."

"He had to! Haven't you heard?" Leo grinned knowingly. "Saki turned out to be an alien trying to take over the world! He was willing to sacrifice anything to stop him! Bishop couldn't have known that the bomb would've gone off on its own eventually. So, of course he… expedited things."

"You really had all dat planned from the beginning?" Raph wondered skeptically, working hard to keep the awe out of his voice. Not that he would _ever _admit it, but he was-

"Impressed?" Leo asked with a laugh. Raph scowled.

"How the shell didja know dey were gonna do everyt'ing they did?"

The leader sighed, glancing at Mikey. His youngest brother had two small scars from where Shredder had dug into his skin with the gauntlet. Mikey didn't seem to notice them too much, except for when he'd tried to use his "battle injuries" as an excuse to get out of training that morning. Master Splinter, however, was _not_ at _all_ pleased with their escapades and told them in no uncertain terms that they did _not_ get to sleep in after the night's adventures.

Mikey wasn't _hurt_, really, but that didn't comfort the oldest turtle very much.

"Well, obviously I didn't know _everything_ they were going to do," Leo said guiltily. "Mikey, I'm really sor-"

"I swear, dude," Mikey exclaimed in exasperation, cutting him off. "If you're about to _apologize_, I'm gonna hurl! Come on, bro! I didn't really get hurt. Aren't we past this? It's like Donny said… we can handle ourselves. I thought that was the whole idea of letting me and him have the fun part this time! Weren't we proving ourselves?"

"Well, yeah-"

"And didn't we?"

"Yes, but-"

"No!" Mikey put his hands over his ears, dancing a small, circular dance to indicate that he wasn't even remotely listening. "No 'buts', Leo! There are no more 'buts'!"

Donatello chuckled and shook his head. "He's right. We proved that we could take on more than what you'd like to think… you lost the right to apologize for every tiny detail that may not go _exactly_ the way it was supposed to. Sorry, Leo, but you'll have to settle for being as fallible as the rest of us from now on."

Leo smiled at his brothers, holding up his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok, I get it. Sorry I keep apologizing."

The others groaned, but Raph shook his head. "So ya still gotta tell me, Fearless… _how_ didja _know_… _MOST_ of everythin' they did… before dey even did it?"

Leo grinned and picked up a knight from the chessboard. "Same way I keep beating Donny at chess."

"Yeah, he cheated," Donny grumbled, making everyone – including Leo – laugh.

"Nope," Leo chuckled, closing his eyes and relishing the feeling of being right. "I'm just… that… good."

Mikey snorted, enjoying the sight of his oldest brother being happy that something had gone right, as opposed to upset because something had gone wrong. He shook his head.

"All the weird dreams I'd been having," he pondered aloud. "I really _am_ kinda surprised we got off as lucky as we did. Ya know, dudes?"

"For Pete's sake, Mikey!" Leo said, rolling his eyes. "Haven't we been over this? Sometimes, dreams don't mean anything at all! Your weird dreams probably come from the ungodly things you put on your pizza, not from some premonition."

"I beg your pardon, but there is _nothing _wrong with what I put on my pizza. Take tonight for instance: sunflower seeds, blueberry jam, coconut, and spaghetti! Yum!"

The others groaned at the disturbing concoction, while Mikey laughed and turned on the TV, just in time for the evening news. The same story was plastered across all the stations, as they had been hoping.

"Hey dudes, check it out! We made the headlines!" Mikey said, pointing at the screen. Donny turned up the volume as they saw it was a news report on the mysterious destruction of the Saki Tower. The screen went to a shot of a disheveled and _thoroughly_ pissed off John Bishop being led away in handcuffs.

"Now really, how the shell did he _survive_ that?" Raph asked grumpily. Once… just once… he'd like to defeat an enemy and have him _stay_ defeated.

"Maybe he's like a cockroach," Donatello said in awe. "But more likely, he just threw the bomb and ran for the exit. If he was in just the right position, it's entirely plausible that the blast would have thrown him clear. You were only one story up, after all. Hey, did you know, a cockroach is able to live through a nuclear blast, even if-"

"Yeah, ok, t'anks, genius. Shut up an' listen."

"We have identified the perpetrator as a retired federal employee by the name of John Bishop," the reporter was saying. "Bishop refused to comment on any motive for this destructive crime, or what connection he and Oroku Saki had to begin with. So far, no other survivors have been located."

"Wow, that is one huge pile of rubble," Donny gasped as the camera panned over to the previous site of the Tower.

"Yeah, even ol' Shredder probably couldn't have gotten out of _that_!" Mikey said hopefully. "Think maybe that was the end of him for good this time?"

"Somehow, I gotta doubt it," Raph growled. "_Bishop_ got out. And Shredder never stays dead for long."

"Yeah, how many times _have_ we killed him off now?" Donny wondered, watching as the TV showed several rescue workers shifted through the tons of debris.

"Well, Leo's killed him a couple times, Master Splinter got rid of him at least twice," Mikey started ticking off on his fingers. "Casey put him in a trash compacter once, can't forget that, it was _classic_… then he was sent off to some ice world on the other side of the universe, but of course his cosmic doppelganger got him out when he tried to erase us out of existence… then-"

"We get it, Mike," Raph groaned.

"So far, no one has been able to locate Saki's body," the reporter continued, bringing their attention back to the report. "When questioned on his whereabouts, Bishop would only say 'I hope that alien was crushed to death before the beam of light could take him away.' What Bishop may have meant by that can only be speculated on. In other news-"

Leo turned the TV off and the four turtles glanced at each other.

"Before… the beam of light… could… take him… away?" Donny repeated in disbelief. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

"Well…" Mikey said, trying to think of something optimistic to say. "Well… well… awwwwww, man…"

**_The End_**

* * *

_A/N: Well, there you have it. Staying true to the ideals of cartoons everywhere, the arch-nemeses never REALLY end up dying… I hope everyone enjoyed this story. We've all seen the turtles defeat Shredder and Bishop physically, and I really wanted to show them beating them mentally instead. Hopefully, I've succeeded there. I want to thank all my reviewers who've made this such a HUGE treat for me and built up my confidence:_

_Livi-Love (first reviewer award! LOL), moaboa (I expect to see a story out of you, too!), Melody Winters, Mikell, MidnightMoonWarrior, starfire201, Pacerpaw, Hannah-bear, WebMistressGina, Cat488, sait4soreyes, banisha, Pig, HumanGuineapig, Donatellolover, MySynonym, Arroba Dotcom, Sara, Lovat, ACWriter1985, Kolaida, Pinguin1993 (and thanks for the advertising in your own story, lol!), Jokers-Destructia, LuvlyLady, DuckiePray (now see, I told you that you wouldn't regret it!), Toraus, Not so Dark, Blazichu, Randomchick16, Scribe of Turesa, Longing for Leo, Artemiss-K-Arrow, InsaneMelon, Cloud-of-Dreams, Vampy, Mew Sakura, The Happy Stalker Ball, Diva Danielle (I'm eagerly awaiting my t-shirt…), Eridani23, PlantyPie, and xtheamazingnothingx._

_Thanks for sticking this through to the end, even after the ominous prologue… remember, nothing is ever as it seems. To quote a great movie, "As soon as you think you've got it figured, you're wrong." _

_Thanks also to the people who read this and enjoyed it without reviewing. _

_Thanks to everyone who reviews this chapter without signing in… I have no way of getting back to you this time, so consider yourselves thanked!_

_A very special and heart-felt thanks goes, once again and as ever, to Mikell, for beta-ing this, for flashes of inspiration, and for laughing in all the right places (two seconds later… LOL!). You rock, girl! =D_

_With that, my dearest, dearest readers, I must bid you adieu… _

_Adieu. _


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